Halloween Draws Near

 

Halloween draws near.

Spooks prepare,

Fiends are giddy

For the haul they’ll make.

Cautious guardians

Tame the gore—

Go for cutesy

Over alarming.

What is Superman

To the lore

Of walking dead

And restless demons?

Why Wonder Woman

When vampires

Swoop low, lurk near,

Searching tender veins?

The evening calls for

Fright and fear

And ghastly tricks

Stemmed alone by treats.

Dare to scare each house.

Strike cold fear.

Intimidate.

Demand sweet payoff.

Do not Trick or Treat

With sweetness

In cute costumes.

No! Command ransom!

Let consequences

Threaten all

Who choose to hide

Behind darkened doors.

And let ghouls enjoy

Their bounty,

Sweets transforming

Gaunted into saints.

For another year

Evil’s tide

May be staved by

Happy Halloween!

John Franklin Hay
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 
www.johnfranklinhay.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/indybikehiker 
indybikehiker@gmail.com

On the Brink of Autumn

 

I love autumn. I'm always looking for writings and poetry about the season. I've found quite a few that I've shared on my blogs over the years.

I penned the following poem in 2006 and I've posted it just about every fall since. It's my personal celebration of this season and my nudge to every reader to embrace its possibilities.


On the brink of autumn,
A hint of chill in the air,
The sun’s setting sooner,
In a few days we’ll be there


Where green turns to golden
And reapers harvest the yield,
Where dry leaves are falling
And flocking fowl arc the fields.


Then we’ll don our jackets
And brace ourselves for the wind
That rustles through branches
And billows our souls again.


Do not shrink back from fall;
Embrace this gilded season
As a grace that descends;
A gift to all from heaven.


It’s time for returning,
For in-bringing and burning,
For heart walks in deep woods,
For distilling, discerning.


What’s muddled becomes clear
And all chaff’s left exposed
As autumn’s sun glows bright
And a harvest moon shines cold.


We may shed pretenses
And travel a lighter way
Our hearts as crisp as leaves
That lift, then sail away.


As we are being turned,
Turn: facing all the changes—
The falling, the cooling,
And the encroaching darkness.


Lean into the season
Lest it overtake your way.
Let your soul be opened;
Relish its gift this fall day.


John Franklin Hay 
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 

Bicycling’s Unjust Risks Must Be Addressed

 I’ve been riding a bicycle in the margins, along the gutters and on the side shoulders in fear of multi-ton vehicles and distracted drivers all my adult life.

Most of the time, as I pedal my bike as an urban commuter and cross-country adventurer, I feel like a sitting duck (and, as such, I identify with folks who live with raw vulnerabilities to forces that can instantly destroy one’s life).

It’s not right. It’s not just. We can do much better.

Public roadways belong to everyone. Safe public mobility is everyone’s right. 

It’s way past time for investment of our tax dollars to change to include pedestrians and cyclists as an equal consideration in all transportation planning. 

To policy makers: you are responsible. We are watching and voting. Will you seek our input? 

To all: be a pedestrian/safe cycling advocate every chance you get. Start by slowing down, giving space, making room on the road. Go beyond. Insist on inclusive, safe mobility commitments for all elected public servants and those who serve in public bureaus/departments.

I do not own a motor vehicle. My bicycle is how I get where I need to go. I’m out there. I’m vulnerable. I’m counting on you.

Addedendum: shout out to my State Senator Andrea Hunley for her advocacy for inclusive mobility in the Indiana State Legislature. Thank you, neighbor!

To Love or Not Love the World

Recovering from a Malformed View of the World took Time

At age six, I understood why I couldn’t see ‘Mary Poppins’ in the theatre. I already knew the Fundamental Evangelical mantra: the world was evil, Hollywood and movies were the epitome of “the world,” and the Bible says “love not the world, neither anything that is in the world.” 

But I kinda liked the world. ‘Mary Poppins’ seemed good to me.

From childhood, I was taught to loathe the world and shun anything “worldly.” This was the holiness church ghetto in which I lived. It would take me years to understand that this was not normal, a deformation of a healthy worldview with a skewed moral compass.

Eventually, through some tepid—and some quite insanely risky—forays into “worldliness,” I came to appreciate, respect, regard, live in and caringly critique “the world” in which I reside as a fallen, fallible, striving neighbor.

Through encounters with authentic and loving “worldly” neighbors—those whose genuine goodness defied/defies my malformed Fundamental Evangelical moral and metaphysical constructs—I have come to embrace this world, my neighbors and my responsible role in this world as what matters most.

Greater than the warning to “love not the world” is the radical admonition of Jesus to “love your neighbor as yourself.” As we do so, the way of the hoped-for future for the world opens before us.

The Work of Christmas

 Howard Thurman suggests next steps for holiday revelers

"When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart."

from The Mood of Christmas by Howard Thurman

GK Chesterton on Christmas

The rotund English Catholic and prolific journalist/writer pumped up Christmas like few have before or since

"It is in the old Christmas carols, hymns, and traditions--those which date from the Middle Ages--that we find not only what makes Christmas poetic and soothing and stately, but first and foremost what makes Christmas exciting. The exciting quality of Christmas rests on an ancient and admitted paradox. It rests upon the paradox that the power and center of the whole universe may be found in some seemingly small matter, that the stars in their courses may move like a moving wheel around the neglected outhouse of an inn.” — G. K. Chesterton

Attempting Ramadan Fast Again

I tried this a few years ago and made it just ten days

So, here we go. I’m trying to join Muslim neighbors down the street and around the world to fast during the month of Ramadan.

I tried this a few years ago and made it just ten days. The manner in which Muslims fast is hard. There is no comparison to any Christian fast, at least that I know of.

The deal is, of course, that one eats and drinks before sunrise, does not eat or drink anything—including water—all day, and then eats and drinks after sunset each day for thirty days. 

All this is done while going about one’s normal work and play.

If that doesn’t sound so difficult, try it.

As I write this, I am in my second day of Ramadan fasting. It’s 4:45 pm and I have close to four hours left before food and drink are possible.

I am not fasting for spiritual reasons. But if some spiritual breakthrough happens, great.

I am fasting Ramadan...

Because I didn’t make it past ten days a few years ago. 

Because it intrigues me. 

Because it is hard. 

Because in my Christian tradition we don’t attempt such a serious fast or “blessed subtraction” (as my New Testament Professor Morris Weigel referred to it).

Because I want to learn more and identify more with my Muslim neighbors, friends, and associates.

And because my Muslim next door neighbor’s teenage son is pumped that I am going to try to observe. I cannot let him down, though I told him I had not completed the Ramadan fast once before. He seems intrigued that a sixty-year-old Christian neighbor would do this.

We’ll see how this goes.

Ramadan Mubarak!