I Come From A Far Country

        BOOKENDS

                 I

I Come From A Far Country

           (Subtitled:

     On losing Weight

    For A Better Body)

I come from a far country

      where everything

             is done

              purely

     through thought;

   and consequently

           nothing

    is either bought

          or sold,

     with thinking

     making it so;

And thus, no need

For arms, or legs,

Or hands, or feet.

 An extraordinary

                    feat;

             wouldn’t

             you say?

And thus, no need

             as well,

            for good

            example,

         of straining

             at stool.

        An ignoble

             pursuit

       at the best

           of times;

And no time either,

                         for

            that matter; 

      and no matter  

            itself,

         of course.

             Just

             pure

          energy.

       You see,

          don’t

          you?

      he said,

 mischievously

      tying up

        loose

        ends

    like lacing

 one’s fingers

     together
metaphorically

   at the end

  of a perfect

     no-day.

—-

And further on being

A Stranger In A Strange Land

If someone were to ask me what I thought of the elections, I would say:

‘I don’t understand why you people are considering Trump to have won the election, when Hillary won the popular vote.’  

And the person would tell me about the Electoral College vote.  And I would say in reply:

‘But that’s according to the rules.  To say: to the rule of law.  You people gave up on the rule of law nearly eight years ago now, when you allowed an ineligible candidate to run for and occupy the office of the presidency.’  

And the person would look at me, and think that it was I who was mad.  And another person, standing nearby and having overheard the conversation, might ask (being a bit more curious about such things as the Truth of things): ‘How so?’

And I would say, ‘Because the definition of a, quote, ‘natural born’ citizen, unquote, is a person, quote, “born in the country, of parents who are citizens,” unquote.  That’s what makes it ‘natural,’ you see.’  

And the person (the first person having walked away by then, shaking his head) might ask further (genuinely curious; or combatively): ‘Who says?’

And I would reply: ‘A man by the name of Emer de Vattel, who wrote the definitive tome of the day of our constitutional Framers on such nation-building matters, entitled ‘The Law of Nations’.  

And the person might reply,* ‘But definitions could have changed over the years.’

And I would respond:

‘Indeed.  But in the case of a contract - which is what the Constitution is; a contract between the several States and the federal government - it would have required a constitutional amendment to change it legally.  And there has been none such forthcoming.   

‘Oh, there have been attempts,’ I would continue (depending on the attention span of my interlocutor).  ‘Eight times, as matter of fact, between 2003 and 2008 alone, to get just such an amendment starting through Congress - proposals all of which had this matter as their common denominator.  But none of them even got out of committee, such was the sensitivity around this particular issue.’   

And the person might ask me (genuinely curious, or combatively), about this time in the conversation: ’Who are you?’

And I would say, ‘Call me Socrates.  Close enough.’

It’s the spirit of the thing that counts, after all. 

—

* the person might ask, or demand, to know additionally what evidence there was that the Framers in fact used de Vattel as their source for the definition.  Of which, there is a multitude.  But you get the drift of the - my imaginary - conversation.   

—-

             II

On A Starless Evening

On a starless evening

Except for Venus

                    (low

   in the west

  this tlme of year

                   here) 

And the Moon,

                    signaling

              there is

                    more

            to come:

        I’m tired of living

In this cocoon.

                  I want

                       out.

       To spread

My imagined wings

               and fly

Fly, to the present horizon    

        and beyond.

And I have found my

             lucky penny

        for the day.  I

Can go home now.

   The universe

       calling me

          subtly.