Within These Latter Days

A poem. I know that some of you will skip this one; those who hate poetry and hate blogs with poetry. However, I think this one is apropos of our current life here on earth, and you might agree - if you read through to the end.

"Within These Latter Days"
by James Kavanaugh
from "Faces in the City"


Within these latter days and strangely fearful times
Of rising stress and weird, apocalyptic signs
When mortars flash like lightning East to West
And prophets crowd the streets to talk of sudden death
When tidal waves and earthquakes threaten frightened men
And new messiahs call apostles once again
Where once the faithful built cathedrals in their town
Basilic banks now rise to consecrate the ground.

Rouen, St. Peter's, Notre Dame and ancient Chartres
Are vanquished now and soon will rot and fall apart
And in their dust will rise a great financial shrine
Where marble pillars from a monument, divine
With sacred sanctuaries, eternal granite walls,
With tabernacled vaults and deeply hallowed halls
And sometimes busts of saints who learned their doctrine well
That only faulty credit dooms a man to hell.


The sacrifice is subtle -- blood need never flow
As long as true believers pay the debts they owe --
No waiting judgment till some final trumpet call,
The Book of Life's contained in cabinets by the wall,
Confessionals for debtors, sinners must atone,
And excommunication when the credit's gone.
And soon I've heard, a vested choir, a European organ,
With stained glass windows overhead of Astor, Ford and Morgan.

A very important thing you need to know about this poem is that it was published in 1972. That's right, 1972 - not recently.

I found this book of poetry while I was re-arranging the furniture in my living room. We have a wall of shelves and knic-knacks, and I will admit that a few of the books have not been touched in the 23 years we have lived here. I sat down to reacquaint myself with Kavanaugh, and when I read this poem, I was struck with the modernity of the subject, especially the lines "tidal waves and earthquakes", and "Basilic banks now rise". It was announced in our newspaper recently, that yet another large bank is moving their headquarters to our city and will be building a skyscraper downtown. The numbers of people who have over-extended, un-manageable credit are legion. Perhaps we need to learn from this poem, which is even more apropos now than it was in 1972.

James Kavanaugh is a former Catholic priest. If you are interested in him or his poetry, go here:

http://celestineview.com/kavanaugh.htm