Ashen Penance

Public piousness

All for show

Private Penance

Who needs to know?

Ashes without the sackcloth

Marked on the foreheads

Of the ‘faithful’… Departed.

Many long since departed

From faith of any sort

They’re only ashes

Lying unemptied

In their cold; ash box hearts

Sincerely insincere

Insincerely sincere

Sincerely meant by some

Insincerely meant by others

Lent from priests to congregations

Mothers to daughters

Fathers to sons

Representative of a repentant state

New Year’s Resolutions: Mark 2

Sacrificing of desires

Postponement of pleasures

Abstinence from indulgences

Yet indulging in this divine comedy

Of spiritual apology

Of confession without progression

Of tradition without perdition

Of spirituality without the reality

Chocolate and sweets

Cigarettes and alcohol

Oasis and Blur

Facebook and Twitter

Read a book; get fitter

Vain pretention

Same intentions

As you had last year….”

In the prelude to

40 days of lenten sacrifice

40 days of repentant artifice

We’re just wondering around in the desert

Like Christ only less alert

With sand on our feet

And no appetite

The hypocrisy

of our theocracy

Has led to mediocrity

To cover up the severity

The ingrained temerity

Of the every day

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