They Will Be Like You

They imitate the way you sneeze and tie your shoes and

cut your food, so please, if for no other reason, eat your

peas and brussels sprouts; and when you hold your head

high, when you scan the sky to find your polestar, they look

up there too, not knowing why, not yet. Your steady

temper teaches them serenity; it readies them to make

their way above the petty and the mean and not get

muddled over seeming versus substance, which is why they

trust that everything is as it needs to be in the reality of

here and now. And so you chart your course on higher

ground, not only for their sake, not just to see the sun

come up and gild the valley till it can’t contain the light; it’s

where the road to paradise begins.

The prophet says: You are beyond forgiven. In the morning

comes the splendid grace that lifts you up, scrapes off the

blemishes, and takes away the sting. And isn’t that (you ask

rhetorically) the Gospel, and the promise kept?—All things

are possible; all souls have wings.

***

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