"The Alley Violinist,"
by Robert Lax
if you were an alley violinist
and they threw you money
from three windows
and the first note contained
a nickel and said:
when you play, we dance and
sing,
signed
a very poor family
and the second one contained
a dime and said:
I like your playing very much,
signed
a sick old lady
and the last one contained
a dollar and said:
beat it,
would you:
stand there and play?
beat it?
walk away playing your fiddle?
Robert Lax was a college buddy of Thomas Merton
they remained friends through life
....he was a very free-spirited catholic
......
i find this poem very interesting
ReplyDeletei would also like to meet robert lax
to find out what it means to be
a free-spirited catholic
the question at the end of the poem
opens my eyes
my heart tells me
the violinist should stay and play
for the very poor family
and for the sick old lady
but if it were me
would i?
or would i be intimidated
by the message
to beat it
and obey that one?
this poem asks me to consider
what do i do with
the contradictory messages i receive from the church?
sadly
i tend to believe the messages that say
we don't want any of you free spirits around here
we want order and uniformity
i wonder how i can better learn
to hear and honor
the voices of the poor family and the sick woman?
ReplyDeletejust hang in there
the holy father once referred to the church
as a hospital tent on a battlefield
surely the poor and sick are bound to show up
some of them might even be doctors and nurses
....
thanks pal
ReplyDeletei am grateful for your encouragement
some christians do find tremendous healing in the church
for others the church seems to be the source of their wounds
perhaps all the more poignantly because those christians
really want the church to be a place of healing
not only for themselves but for others
may God's work of reconciliation and healing continue
within and between and beyond all the churches
keep the poems coming !