In Praise of Christ

Which man or hero does the goddess praise,
To whom, harsh Clio, do your trumpets rise?
No god, for empty soar the royal skies.
Upon whose mortal image shall we gaze?

Our poets clash each universe in words
A symphony of noise transports the heart.
Yet silent lies that harmonizing art,
Which animates the mountains and the birds.

The sun whose chariot anoints the sky,
The cloak of winter melting into spring,
The rosebuds and the roaring rivers sing,
The lyric Cosmos revels to reply.

Whom first to praise but Progress who appoints
The human will to govern all the earth,
Who, from the very moment of his birth,
Evolves to dignity his bones and joints.

Who grew from ash and dust a universe,
And stirred a soup, the birthing womb of life,
With Chance, his mistress, nay perhaps his wife,
He spins an epic poem, time the verse.

With them shall we sing Liberty and Love,
For any joy we know that it takes two,
The human will, unfettered, sets the true,
With rockets we have cowed the skies above.

I sing of Darwin and of Galilei,
Who loosed the bonds of magic on the mind,
And sought the laws of nature, it to bind.
The superstitious past has passed away.

Their minds released the prisoned will of man,
The flow of human greatness burst the dikes,
No flash of Jove the shrewd inventor strikes,
As ships ply oceans, wings the heavens span.

Now Washington and Jefferson I praise,
The Founder and the peaceful first reform,
Grand Lincoln and Frank Roosevelt adorn,
New Deals and unity from honest Abe.

And with Columbus shall I chant the deeds
Of Carnegie and Custer, brave in heart,
Rags rise to riches, valiant when the dart
Of natives scalped the passion that he bleeds.

We sing of Davy Crockett in the wood,
And Eisenhower, leader of the troops,
The unknown man whose wife’s head ever droops,
And William James, who preached pragmatic good.

Yet fame of pastors blossoms as a tree,
A star from Bethlehem proclaims good news,
A humble God, himself with man to fuse,
To loosen pride and evil’s tyranny.

Oh Son and Savior of all humankind,
Conceived of God, you shall receive the crown,
For on a cross you bled, without renown,
To heal the sick, give vision to the blind.

That man, when he will conquer all the earth
Which threatens Heaven, with a triumph just,
And batter down her hubris to the crust
With penitence and mercy, second birth,

The Cosmos with right order will he judge.
You shake its vast foundations to the core,
You banish those who challenge you in war,
Forgiving penitents, without a grudge.
-Tyler William O’Neil
-February 19, 2010

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art-
A light adorning one whom you adore,
Close watching o’er the treasure of your heart,
To guard, protect and love forevermore.
I flit and flutter to and fro, it seems,
As falls the morning dew to dissipate,
As splits the Nile into tiny streams,
As turns the lustful to another mate.
No- yet still steadfast, rooted in this love,
Upon my knees I offer and confess,
I fix my body to the cross above,
To eat and drink His passionate caress.
Oh Star of Bethlehem, thou herald bright,
My salt your salt, my fainting love your light.
-Tyler William O’Neil
-December 26, 2009

December 25

Amid the hustle bustle of our list,
Transcendent Glory echoes from the sky,
As Heaven meets the souls of you and I,
The Father sends the Sun into our midst.
The manger mocks this child born to die,
Majestic King of Heaven and of Earth,
Insulted at the moment of his birth,
He loved the world too much to let it die.
Each year we hail the moment of his birth,
By buying, selling, drinking wine and ale,
Our revelry turns wine to water stale,
Our spirits follow things of passing worth.
May Christ again join Heaven with the Earth,
And dwell within who dwells upon his birth.
-Tyler William O’Neil
-December 25, 2009

The Leaves of Autumn

Red, green and yellow fall the autumn leaves,
Cascading to the avenues of men.
They beautify the paths between the trees,
Who guard the joy as earth grows cold again.
Then whoosh- the palms of autumn sweep away,
Surrendering to nails of winter’s frost.
The sun forsakes its child, a shorter day,
And man laments the light that he has lost.
That light himself once trod on autumn palms,
With men who laid “hosannas” at his feet.
Then echoing the winter of the psalms,
Blood asked the Father, “why forsake thou me?”
As trees proclaim hosanna now today,
The cross of winter whispers Calvary.
-Tyler William O’Neil
-October 24, 2009

The Law of Entropy

Majestic pillars, monuments of stone,
Arise beneath the masters of the earth,
As justice, balance, strength and wisdom birth
A wonder of the gods, for men a throne.
Yet time does not leave miracles alone,
With rushing water, drowning living’s worth,
Eroding human grandeur on the earth,
‘Tis Fate, a master hated and unknown.
He casts eternal souls to wail and groan,
Lamenting wonders broken and deceased,
With frenzied parties and a famine feast,
They dance amid the ruins of a throne.
The Master in the Heavens mocks the beast,
Reviving those who listen to the Priest.
-Tyler William O’Neil
-August 20, 2009

The Conquest of Nature

Majestic mountain peaks pierce blue and white,
The ocean of the air breathes thunder clouds,
The pistons of the deep break earthen mounds,
And ocean breezes bury mountain’s might.
Poor human hands blast caverns left and right,
They fear the thunder, silencing the sounds,
They flee collapsing tempests, rolling mounds,
And run from water mountains at their height.
What man has conquered nature like a king?
What general of math has cowed the storm?
Nay, humans flee to houses safe and warm,
And claim to conquer nature’s mighty sting.
One man alone has bested nature’s might,
He gave the tempest calm, the blind their sight.
-Tyler William O’Neil
-August 17, 2009