Like stones

After Acts 17: 16-34

Each day we sit and listen

like stones, one speaker

after another, and then,

like stones, we discuss,

we dispute, we argue because

it is what is expected of learned

men, if not stones. This is what

we do, listen to the wise and

foolish, babblers and orators,

all are equal here, the equality

of ignorance, like stones.

This one before us seems

no different; he begins

auspiciously, talking about us,

but I see the glaze of boredom

covering the eyes around me;

another babbler or borderline

lunatic with some new idea,

some new religion, this one

from Palestine from which

we all know no good thing

comes. I see yawns.

But he continues; I listen.

Slowly I hear the clarity

of his words, crystal shards

piercing even while sneers

and yawns remain around me,

but I no longer care; the opinions

of my learned friends, the regard

of my fellow philosophers, have

become like stones.

His words end; he is dismissed

with derision and laughter,

laughter which stops when

I step down and follow him.

I don’t look back.

Illustration: St. Paul in the Areogapus, drawing by Mariano Fortuny (1855-56); National Museum of Art of Catalonia.