The Enemy Within

Proverbs 25:21 (and 25:22):

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

- The Bible, King James Version.




The Enemy Within

Black ice beneath my karmic wheels,
reigns o’r the spirit twisting within me.
Winter rains less likely than summer snow,
sand storm winds wrap arms all around me.

Conscience knowing what is and is not so,
but mind slips on the not so icy-hot deals
reckoned by the hatred hating within me,
spitting in the sand storm winds all around me.

O enemy, my enemy, why have you let yourself go
as if there is indeed a summertime snow?
I find you wanting to know what’s real,
dreaming dreams in the midst of the sunrise.

You there, hungry with a hunger I too know,
Take this nourishment and flee, just go!
Thirst drips off you like slush in the snow,
drink this cold longing, stirring thirsty within me.

Wondering why we let our paths cross,
as if you too can turn and toss,
and you too can experience loss,
and shed tears from those empty eyes.

You too wanted only to do good,
you too fought hard with would and could,
you too hated the hatred within you,
and felt joy in the birth of the sunrise.

How we can love a man while not liking him,
and hate a man while liking to be with him,
shows the sickness of spirit that we call "feel,"
is born in our soul and not really real.

Lord I implore you—
Let me off this karmic wheel!
Untwist the wasted spirit lying within me,
while making snow in the summer so.

Let my conscience let my heart go,
and my icy-hot hatred begin to flow
out of my heart so I no longer feel,
this malice and love, so stirred—
so surreal.