Page 280
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
The voiceless presence behind treasure, mountains, mist, and Saint Augustine stands away from song and dance, frightening the self into a harder listening before wrongdoing begins.
The force described here does not perform joy; it withdraws so human singing and dancing can happen at all. Treasure handed on becomes a clue to origin, but the poem quickly turns severe with threats on mountaintops and the balance of daring places. Ending with Saint Augustine and a God who does not care brings back the earlier theological harshness without resolving it.
Spirit goes far away to let you sing and dance. It threatens to take you upside the head, frightens you on whatever mountain you pick; a place with no voice, in balance along daring places, never directly prayed to. Augustine returns and God still does not care.