the new religion

a holy sonnet for airline security

One thing has now become completely clear:
the enemy of Faith’s not doubt, but fear.
Religion — as its role has always been,
is less to nourish Faith, than banish doubt —
now soothes our fear of those who are without:
the terrorists, those ominous foreign men
who, full of call and resolute self-will,
destroy themselves and countless others kill.

So a new caste of priests has been ordained,
that order and decorum be maintained;
and as on holy ground we doff our shoes,
while scrying augurs Samsonite peruse,
they wand us as we pass the airway gate —
baptized anew, and only slightly late.

Tobias Haller BSG
April 9, 2007

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