Startled by Existence

(2/2000)

When the meadows laugh with lively green, and the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene

When Marry and Susan and Emily, with their sweet round mouths sing “Ha, Ha, He”

(William Blake, Laughing song, excerpt)

I see the joy of Jesu shed

like water through

a shower head, or

better illustrated by

that funny fir-ball fountain on the square

where perforated tubes

jettison and spray

a fog of animated water.

 

I hear the joy of Jesu trilled

through living pores,

(a funny fir-ball planet laced with kids)

mouths bent back, like reaching birds

voices warped and breaking:

a conduit for living water.

 

A spear once split his side

but it would split with laughter …

If our world can not contain

the tally of His mighty works,

will all these mouths

of bitsy teeth, or parts

of snagle-lip and spit on the gums

be able to express his joy?

 

Here is the joy of Jesu:

One billion children

on the bounce

all laugh eyed and goofy.

Hop, skip, jump …

all rollicking and rolled,

fantastic hoots, irrational jokes

about stiff language:

"Do you love cake? Then you should marry it!"

 

Ha Ha hha ha ha ha.

 

Here is the joy of Jesu:

"I see you behind my hands," tap your shoulder

on the other side and run

or beg a chase around the Monkey bars:

Nana Nana na na they all sing:

The first universal sentence.

 

Here is the joy of Jesu:

Whistle din upon the dawn,

some trillion birds in pouring song,

blend monkeys and hyenas too

in one colossal laugh.

 

Here is the joy of Jesu

shining on, or through

a single face.

Anna's eyes are lifted up

all jolly with the tease.

She holds a toad toward my face

knowing it will make me squirm.

 

Here is the joy of Jesu:

Held in check, against he Hoover Dam

of present tense, or recent past;

For we esteemed Him smitten,

man of Sorrow, friend of grief.

Here is the Joy of Jesu

Veiled:

 

How should we feel

if in our sin

or varied acts of groping idiocy

we should here him laugh?

 

He knows the healing end

and the joke that is on us.

 

Here is the joy of Jesu

Squeezed Like a belly laugh

that will not hold:

A smile or a wink, a low

chuckle dressed as thunder

on the wind.

 

For, if we've seen his pleasure

pressed through these:

Mouths of babes

and barking pups and bear-kind on the roll...

 

How much more

will this joy be

when HE,

the maker of the giggle-flex

or adolescent squeal

steals the show, and splits the sky

with pent up righteous zeal.

 

Here is the Joy of Jesu:

Calling on His blushing bride.

He has hinted long enough

and now makes ready to display

His eternal tender love

with a Ha-Ha

Hallelujah.