Proof of Concept

by Daniel Smith

Form destroying function
Follows the steps in order:
Storge, Philia, Eros, then
Stops just short of the ghost;
God revealed and embraced only to barter with loss, with pain.

As biological denials of definition
We move from the moon to the sun,
Heliocentric lives of chasing light until we lose our sight;
Each daylight is preparation for another night
Clarified only by what it can never be.

Every beginning offers
No warning of when the glow will fade.
"New romance is full of nails hidden from the saw's teeth."
Only able to love as much as one's suffering,
We drift through the war waged between black bile and blood,
Stir up a breeze and become the dust
That fuels another's fire.

You can taste of every fruit in the garden
Searching for good or for evil,
But will never know which is forbidden until teeth have pierced flesh and the sin is lodged in your throat.
With delusions of reference
From father,
From serpent;
You face the world of shame with hope—
Safe passage granted by the words of dead men.

We try and try to wash away our trespasses with the waters of salvation,
Sow seeds in the ashes of fires burned cold,
But the holy water drowns the seedlings and snuffs out the embers.
We repent and spite blindness, seeing clearly that
Our innocence can only be understood once it is lost, that
Our suffering is infinite and no love is enough.