The Dactylic Gospel of Matthew, 9:1 et seq.
Matthew Montchalin
leaving the people that argued and scoffed,
choosing directions that led them away,
to his own house, in just over a day.
Then while at home, strangers brought him a man,
who was so paralyzed he could not stand.
Jesus beheld they were faithful, sincere,
and he did whisper inTO the man's ear,
"Courage, my child, I forgive you your sins."
But there were many who took great offense,
whispering he had most surely blasphemed,
figuring he had done less than he deemed.
"Why do you harbor such bad thoughts within?
"What is yet harder, forgiving a sin,
"or to enable a man who is lame,
"get up and walk out the way that he came?"
Matthew Montchalin
so to their boat they went back and shoved off,
|choosing directions that led them away,
|to his own house, in just over a day.
|
|Then while at home, strangers brought him a man,
|who was so paralyzed he could not stand.
|Jesus beheld they were faithful, sincere,
|"Courage, my child, I forgive you your sins."
|But there were many who took great offense,
|whispering he had most surely blasphemed,
|figuring he had done less than he deemed.
|
|"Why do you harbor such bad thoughts within?
|"What is yet harder, forgiving a sin,
"power to walk back the way that he came?"
"Since you are doubtful, I'll have you all know,
"he is now well and can rise and can go,
"this being proof that The Man has the power
"to erase sins in much less than an hour.
"So I command you," he said to the man,
"gather your energies, rise, and then stand,
"go to your home, and lie down in your bed,
"thanks be to God for the graces you get."
Hearing these words, the poor man did arise,
moving each leg, in plain sight of their eyes,
tested his legs, and then traveled back home,
needing no crutches he made it alone.
All of the crowds saw what happened, and cried,
"See what this MAN has done, using God's might!"
Matthew Montchalin
|where tax assessors recorded assays;
Although artistic license can only go so far, I'll have to remember
to fix this someday. There's one syllable too many in the top line.
Matthew Montchalin
|"he is now well and can rise and can go,
|"this being proof that The Man has the power
|"to erase sins in much less than an hour.
|"So I command you," he said to the man,
|"gather your energies, rise, and then stand,
|"go to your home, and lie down in your bed,
|
|Hearing these words, the poor man did arise,
|moving each leg, in plain sight of their eyes,
|tested his legs, and then traveled back home,
|needing no crutches he made it alone.
|
|All of the crowds saw what happened, and cried,
|"See what this MAN has done, using God's might!"
Then after healing him, he went to the place
where tax assessors recorded assays;
and, from their office, he asked them to come,
and, of those coming, a Matthew was one,
though there were others, who also were pleased,
willing to sit there with them for a feast,
there in their house with long ledgers and books,
BUT when the Pharisees gave them long looks,
wondering WHY he would HAVE such a dinner,
sit and break BREAD with so many a sinner,
not just with taxmen but those long remote,
seemingly hopeless, unworthy of hope.
Hearing the Pharisees muttering thus,
Jesus then told them, "My purpose is just,
"Those who are healthy need NO medicine,
"only the sick. -It is good they are in.
"Do you not know that a doctor will give
"all that he has so his patient will live?
"Go and come back, when you know what I mean,
"there is much MORE here than might at first seem:
"
" 'For I will have a wide merciful light,
" rather than offerings holy but trite'
"
"It is the sinful that need to hear me,
"not the self-righteous ones THAT disagree."
Matthew Montchalin
came up to Jesus and traveled along,
curious, inasmuch Jesus and his
chose not to fast, but they rather ate bits,
of what they had, or whatever there was,
sometimes some meat, but more often bread crust,
and so they asked him, "Those Pharisees fast,
"FOR a long time, or the length it should last,
"AND just as often, we students endure,
"praying that fasting will help us stay pure,
"but your disciples seem never to fast?"
Jesus replied, "At a wedding or party,
"all of the people there ought to eat hardy,
"up until midnight when IT is to end,
"there they will lose what in turn will begin;
"when the groom's whisked off and leaves them behind,
"so there is sadness as people unwind,
"laughter grows quiet, and also their mood,
"food being gone, they shall do without food."
Matthew Montchalin
|"all of the people there ought to eat hardy,
|"up until midnight when IT is to end,
|"there they will lose what in turn will begin;
|"when the groom's whisked off and leaves them behind,
|"so there is sadness as people unwind,
|"laughter grows quiet, and also their mood,
"If there's a rip, who puts NEW cloth on OLD?
"Even, supposing, you stitched in a fold,
"still the rip lengthens and tears in due course,
"this, for the reason, that OLD cloth lacks FORCE.
"Nor is it wise, to deposit fresh wine,
"in an old bottle that had some in kind,
"for the old bottle will breathe and then blow,
"losing its wine after struggling to grow:
"bottles explode when wine's muscles grow thick,
"inasmuch spirit is stronger than brick.
"But if you use only bottles brand new,
"then the wine's better and it lasts longer too."
carmen bedau
"Matthew Montchalin" <mmon...@OregonVOS.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Pine.SUN.3.96.101111...@compass.oregonvos.net...
Hi, what about "Then having healed him ..." ?
I did like reading this and will do so many more times, I guess. - Thank
you!
And bye -- Carmen
Matthew Montchalin
|"Matthew Montchalin" <mmon...@OregonVOS.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
|news:Pine.SUN.3.96.101111...@compass.oregonvos.net...
|> |Then after healing him, he went to the place
|> |where tax assessors recorded assays;
|>
|> Although artistic license can only go so far, I'll have to remember
|> to fix this someday. There's one syllable too many in the top line.
|
|Hi, what about "Then having healed him ..." ?
Yes, that's a beautiful way of putting it!
|I did like reading this and will do so many more times, I guess.
It is both challenging and enlightening, depending on how you look
at it. :)
|- Thank you!
|And bye -- Carmen
Hey, how about a dactylic version of the Gospel of Luke in German???
carmen bedau
"Matthew Montchalin" <mmon...@OregonVOS.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Pine.SUN.3.96.101111...@compass.oregonvos.net...
> On Sat, 17 Nov 2001, carmen bedau wrote:
> |"Matthew Montchalin" <mmon...@OregonVOS.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> |news:Pine.SUN.3.96.101111...@compass.oregonvos.net...
> |> |Then after healing him, he went to the place
> |> |where tax assessors recorded assays;
> |>
> |> Although artistic license can only go so far, I'll have to remember
> |> to fix this someday. There's one syllable too many in the top line.
> |
> |Hi, what about "Then having healed him ..." ?
>
> Yes, that's a beautiful way of putting it!
>
> |I did like reading this and will do so many more times, I guess.
>
> It is both challenging and enlightening, depending on how you look
> at it. :)
>
> |- Thank you!
> |And bye -- Carmen
>
> Hey, how about a dactylic version of the Gospel of Luke in German???
Oh, das trauen Sie mir zu ??
;-) I`m afraid I have to read it
first.
>
Matthew Montchalin
|> Hey, how about a dactylic version of the Gospel of Luke in German???
|
| Oh, das trauen Sie mir zu ??
Why, sure. :)
| ;-)
| I`m afraid I have to read it
| first.
Every language has a meter that is peculiar to it. The English
language really goes for iambic meters. Trying to use a straight
dactylic meter is very difficult work, even playing with some of
the rhymes like I do, and settling for close rhymes instead of
perfect rhymes. Trying to keep it from collapsing into something
unpronounceable or unintelligible is not easy to do. The strange
thing about doing this Dactylic Gospel of Matthew, is that the
words flow out so comfortably for me. I really haven't that much
choice in how to write it...
Matthew Montchalin
|"in an old bottle that had some in kind,
|"for the old bottle will breathe and then blow,
|"losing its wine after struggling to grow:
|"bottles explode when wine's muscles grow thick,
|"inasmuch spirit is stronger than brick.
|"But if you use only bottles brand new,
|"then the wine's better and it lasts longer too."
Then as he spoke there, a well-to-do man
came to him saying, "I know that you can,
"come and give life to my daughter who died.
"Come to my house, for she lies there inside.
"If you will simply just touch her, she'll live,
"therefore, I beg you, just give her life's gift."
Jesus agreed and so passed through the town,
letting crowds gather, from there and around,
doubters, disciples, and passers-by too,
many who wondered if this he could do,
and, if he could, whether GOD's will was served.
So, his disciples walked mum and reserved.
And, as he walked, a young woman saw him,
and went along to make touch with his hem,
saying, within herself, the slightest mere touch
of that drab robe ought to restore her so much,
curing and healing was what she'd been needing,
inasmuch SHE had been suffering bleeding.
But on her touching it, Jesus then turned,
looked on their faces, and looked till he learned,
WHOSE hand had touched him, and then he did say,
"Daughter, your faith has completed your cure,
"and not the cloth, which grows old and not newer.
"Faith is a flower that grows in the heart;
"first it is planted and so it will start.
"Up from the heart is the way it begins,
"and as it's IN you, I see it grows hence."
Matthew Montchalin
|looked on their faces, and looked till he learned,
|WHOSE hand had touched him, and then he did say,
|"Daughter, your faith has completed your cure,
|"and not the cloth, which grows old and not newer.
|"Faith is a flower that grows in the heart;
|"Up from the heart is the way it begins,
Farther along, he approached the man's place,
where there were drummers that beat out a pace,
flutists that blew out a tune of some kind,
and, altogether, a funeral combined.
Jesus then ordered them, "Be at once still,
"she is not dead, but asleep, and sleeps still."
Minstrels and doubters and followers laughed,
mocking him loudly, and so their knees slapped.
Nevertheless, at the moment they checked,
there they did see what they did not expect,
how Jesus raised her, by taking her hand,
helping her get up, then helping her stand.
Matthew Montchalin
|"she is not dead, but asleep, and sleeps still."
|
|Minstrels and doubters and followers laughed,
|mocking him loudly, and so their knees slapped.
|Nevertheless, at the moment they checked,
|there they did see what they did not expect,
|how Jesus raised her, by taking her hand,
|helping her get up, then helping her stand.
Late in the evening, two blind men came up,
both of them bearing a beggarman's cup,
shouting, or crying, for some kind of aid:
"Son of that David, take us from the shade.
"Have what we have, in exchange for your pity,
"here is our house, though it's far from the city."
Entering, sitting, Jesus did ask,
"Am I the one that can take up that task?"
Answering quickly, they both returned, "Yes."
Touching their eyelids, each one did he bless,
and having blessed them, each opened with sight,
thus being freed of their desperate plight.
Matthew Montchalin
|"Am I the one that can take up that task?"
|
|Answering quickly, they both returned, "Yes."
|Touching their eyelids, each one did he bless,
|and having blessed them, each opened with sight,
"Now you have light in accordance with faith,
"freed from your darkness by way of God's grace,
"but I insist, that although you are free,
"eyes being open so THAT you can see,
"tell not a soul for the time is not right
"for you to speak of your redemption with light."
Nevertheless, in the morning, next day,
after he got up, and went on his way,
both of them eagerly told how they cried,
how Jesus heard them and gave back their sight.
Matthew Montchalin
|after he got up, and went on his way,
how Jesus came, and gave THEM back their sight.
After that, Jesus resumed going on,
and his disciples someTIME around dawn,
brought to him SOMEone, deaf, MUTE, and possessed,
then, through a battle of wills, Jesus blessed,
touched the man's EARS and said "Listen to ME,
"Now that the demon is GONE you are FREE."
And at that moment, that man had his voice,
and his own hearing, and so did rejoice.
Crowds then beheld what their Jesus had done,
marveling HOW he gave speech to the dumb;
HOW he had cast out a demon of silence,
using his hands, and without doing violence.
THIS kind of thing was not seen near their home,
nor throughout Israel, nor where sands are blown.
Hearing of Jesus, the Pharisees said,
what of his miracles and what he just did,
WAS surely done by requesting the aid
of some dark prince whom the devils obeyed.
carmen bedau
"Matthew Montchalin" <mmon...@OregonVOS.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Pine.SUN.3.96.101111...@compass.oregonvos.net...
....
Thank You
Matthew Montchalin
|what of his miracles and what he just did,
|WAS surely done by requesting the aid
|of some dark prince whom the devils obeyed.
Those were the times when he taught as he went,
visiting many a household or tent,
synagogue, temple, or farmhouse, or home,
wandering widely, as if he did roam,
speaking through proverbs and psalms with his skill,
healing diseases and treating those ill,
speaking of goodness, and why he had come,
giving them tastes of the coming Kingdom.
When he perceived how their gatherings grew,
so he was sad, for he saw what he knew,
that, seeing them, whom he wandered across,
seemed to be SO much like sheep that were lost,
without a shepherd, to lead them back home,
so, for the most part, they WERE all alone.
Whereupon turning, he said to his friends,
"What does one do, when one so comprehends:
"acres are golden and ready to reap,
"grain being ready to harvest and keep?
"But there are few who can work on a farm,
"nor any there who can work in a barn.
"What does one do, but request someone there
"call upon those who have time they can share."
Matthew Montchalin
||Hearing of Jesus, the Pharisees said,
||what of his miracles and what he just did,
||WAS surely done by requesting the aid
||of some dark prince whom the devils obeyed.
It will read better if it reads something like:
what of his wonders and what he just did
repairing the meter and strengthening the alliterative effect of all
of those 'w' sounds.
Matthew Montchalin
can continue with Matthew 10:1-
||Hearing of Jesus, the Pharisees said,
what of his wonders and what he just did,
WERE surely done by entreating the aid
||of some dark prince whom the devils obeyed.
|
|Those were the times when he taught as he went,
|visiting many a household or tent,
synagogue, temple, or countryside home,
|wandering widely, as if he did roam,
|speaking through proverbs and psalms with his skill,
|healing diseases and treating those ill,
|speaking of goodness, and why he had come,
|giving them tastes of the coming Kingdom.
|
|When he perceived how their gatherings grew,
|so he was sad, for he saw what he knew,
that, seeing them, whom he met when he crossed,
THEY looked a LOT like stray SHEEP that were lost,
some stuck in thickets, where struggling they stirred,
summoning wolves to pull out what was heard,
others were those that in hearing some thunder
panicked, stampeded, and so were brought under,
so, with no shepherd, to lead them back home,
they, for the most part, amassed all alone.
Matthew Montchalin
|> Hey, you were very busy today
|....
| Thank You
My productivity is sometimes limited by my access to Usenet,
but I am glad that you find it interesting. :)
carmen bedau
"Matthew Montchalin" <mmon...@OregonVOS.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
I do so ...... (and you know the end of this short
message ;-).....
>