Augustine’s Lines and Acrostic
(A bishop of Hippo)
Si fallor, sum! I no doubt must exist
However fraught with error since to err
I must be there to do the errant thing.However fraught with error since to err
Pure skepticism therefore can't be true
And truth I set off early to pursue.
The Manicheans moved my ears with tales
Of light and dark in endless war they proved
Through daily combat of the light and dark,
Through daily rise and fall of suns and stars,
Through all our politicians and our priestsThrough daily rise and fall of suns and stars,
Forever mixed in
virtue and in vice--
Such Manichean proof was powerful for
A youthful head
untrained in reason or
How easily a fact can be a whore.
In time, I learned
the syllogism and
Abandoned Manichean
foolishness--
By definition good
lacks evil. Hence,
The good and evil cannot be conjoined
In such theatric
struggle. Thus, I turned
To logic and more careful use of words,
Learned rhetoric, but soon I wanted more--To logic and more careful use of words,
I'd not forgotten my "si fallor, sum!"
Through Plato I found changeless Truth and Good
Which briefly brought great pleasure though it vexed
Me next. If real is really past all change
(Which seems required, too, if God foreknows all),
Must that not mean
that everything was set
In stone from the
beginning? Thus poor Eve
Was forced to sin, the serpent to deceive?
I flailed about until I could perceive:
All inquiry of
course fails where I amI flailed about until I could perceive:
Beliefless. Credo ut intelligam--
How can I seek an
answer unless I
Am clear first on the means with which to try?
Faith must come first to put some terms in place
That we can use for parsing up a case.
Faith must come first to put some terms in place
That we can use for parsing up a case.
Gathering up my thoughts, I thus confessed
Raw sin throughout my life. In faith, I'd rest
And pray for undeserved last clemency
Content to rest in God's hands knowing the
Election might have long passed over me.
© Harold Anthony Lloyd 2016
The current contents of "The Apology Box" can be found here.
© Harold Anthony Lloyd 2016
The current contents of "The Apology Box" can be found here.
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