Friday, May 01, 2009

Sin and Confessions

"And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is". --Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

If I confessed to some half-guilty pleasure,
indulgence less than worthy of my creed,
would I be lessened in your estimation?
If I admitted craving hoarded treasure,
gold heaped up beyond all human needs
or if I copped to jealous palpitation
or feigning illness for the sake of leisure
expressing wrath in spoken word or deed
or lust that leads to careless fornication
or gourmandizing past all reasoned measure—
all sins come from one small bitter seed:
the use of others for a selfish pleasure.
Call it sloth or gluttony or greed
but recognize the root on which it feeds.

Collection available! Knocking from Inside

8 comments:

Dee Martin said...

Always, always, when we put self at the center, he?

Rinkly Rimes said...

Surely not so many sins in one little body!

Granny Smith said...

You have zeroed in on the worst sin - the objectification of another person.

Anonymous said...

Dante divided the sins of the Damned (from lightest to most terrible) into Love Excessive, Love Perverted and Love Absent. Seems that this ends up the same.

Tumblewords: said...

the last line makes a remarkable ending...

Patois42 said...

Your ability to bring it all down to one "seed" -- and write of it so eloquently -- is stunning. Wonderful.

danni said...

respect - the missing seasoning in so many interactions --- you cartured it so very well!!!

floreta said...

lots of food for thought here