Away from this amoral city
I prefer the role of recluse
The urban scene’s a steam-room
For laundering of money –
And surely all money is laundered!
Far away from this sauna
Where witnesses to crime
‘Saw nada’
But sweat the poorest of poor
To make it seem cool ‘at the top’
When leeches are applied
Attached to the human temple
Be sure all reason fails –
They sink themselves who tread upon
Their fellows to gain status in a swamp
More natural it is that man aids man
Not sending waves of artificial war
By which all strive to win a mean survival –
Setting all our gifts instead upon
A dedicated altar to the poor
For competition is antithesis
Of humane civilization
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Bernard Saint
Illustration: Claire Palmer
from etching by Thomas de Lieu (1560-1612)
Saint Copres Hermit reads sitting in his vegetable garden, from Sylvae Sacrae hos memores Christi, Paris, 1606.
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