Poetry Thursday (Times Two)

Cowardice Tries to Repeat, by Walter Kaufmann

Cowardice tries to repeat
throws that succeed,
seeks what is obsolete,
snug as a creed,
lacking the courage to meet
unheard-of need.

Simply by being the first,
undefiled flings,
those that are unrehearsed
are granted wings.
What is repeated is cursed:
rote never sings.


Father Feeney, by Walter Kaufmann

Outside the Church is no salvation.
With acrobatic exegesis
the Church attenuates this thesis:
non-Catholics can escape damnation.

Said Feeney: You have to belong
to Mother Church or go to hell.
Said Mother Church: You infidel;
keep quiet, Feeney, you are wrong.

The Father claimed his view was true
and backed up by one pope at least;
his archbishop defrocked the priest,
the Jesuits expelled him too.

Then he received an invitation
to come and clear himself in Rome.
It's forged, he said, and stayed at home.
The answer: excommunication.

Now even Feeney ought to know,
if he is right then he is wrong,
for he himself does not belong:
where does he think that he will go?