This Psalm is enacted as a live-action
presentation by Sir Richard Wadd:
To Suffer is to Slip Unnoticed
Said I to Antinous:
I am suffering.
Said Antinous in reply:
To suffer is to slip unnoticed
Into the alley off the boulevard
Where oblivious others tread,
Fall to and annoy the muddy puddles
That loathe to share with anyone
Their quiet, self-satisfied world.
Light can barely be bothered there to shine.
Jealous echoes from an ancient beyond
Jostle and crowd the few, intermittent
Attempts for present and personal thought.
All discerned laughter is mocking.
All discerned mockery is unchallenged.
Disappointment is the useless blanket,
Thin and tattered,
That nightly offers nothing
Against the chill.
But I am your servant and your sentry;
I will come to you in your isolation
And vigil while you slumber.
I will sweep away the putrid waters
And pave with onyx the earth.
I will command the sun into your corners.
I will banish the ghosts of your despair
And burn away the mildews from your mind.
I will ordain love as the source of your laughter
And see it arm you against the driving calumny.
I will place a fire in your chest
That warms you through every midnight.
Lo, you will shed like a snakeskin your suffering
And abandon it for the winds
To render within but days into dust.
This Psalm is enacted as a live-action
presentation by Sir Richard Wadd: