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A gospel in blank verse with rhymed parables<br />
And your abusers, pray for them as well.<br />
If you love only those who offer love,<br />
what is exceptional in that? Not much!<br />
Even the wicked do the same: and if<br />
you lend, hoping to have a good return<br />
to pile up yet more money in the bank<br />
there’s no real ‘credit’ there: don’t villains lend<br />
to villains in the hope of big returns?<br />
No! You must love your enemies and lend,<br />
expecting nothing in return. Do good!<br />
and prove yourself to be as merciful –<br />
as good and kind as are the very best.<br />
For if you do that, your reward will be<br />
beyond your reckoning, and you will count<br />
as “Sons of the Most High”, for He is kind<br />
even to sinners and the self-absorbed.<br />
Your watchwords should be ‘Mercy!’ and ‘Forgive!’<br />
Your Heavenly Father’(i)s merciful: you too<br />
should treat the blemished world as He treats you.’<br />
The Parable of the Prodigal Son.<br />
A good old man had two fine sons:<br />
At least they seemed to be.<br />
The elder was a stay-at-home<br />
Who worked there, steadily.<br />
He tilled the land, saw to the farm,<br />
And though he seldom smiled<br />
He’d always been at dad’s right hand<br />
Since when he was a child.<br />
The younger’s coat had a different cut:<br />
He longed to spread a wing.<br />
He found the farm a cramping place.<br />
Why not go travelling?<br />
He’d seek his fortune far away,<br />
And, give the boy his due,<br />
He’d like to taste the city life<br />
And kiss a girl or two.<br />
The trouble was, he hadn’t a cent<br />
And nothing would be his<br />
Until the old man popped his clogs<br />
…Roll on the obsequies!<br />
By Hebrew law, when father died<br />
The elder got two thirds<br />
i
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