The Petition (3 of 3)

I close with this confession, Lord of Justice,

 

Knowing that I only recount

What is well-known to You.

 

But certain things must not reflect

Upon the friend for whom I speak,

 

But only upon that universe

That belongs specifically to me.

 

For though indeed, we shared a certain sin,

His heart proved not as rank as was my own

 

And merits not the lash

Of Your unerring judgment.

 

As knights who had in faith picked up the Cross,

We fought against the villain, Guy La Croix

 

And took his stone keep castle

Where some things were done

That ever replicated themselves

Within Ami’s good mind and mine.

 

For although that town’s fierce lord

Did bend unto our fair and gentle terms,

Our stalwart papal legate did refuse them,

Granting peace to only three of their parfaits.

But many more would not abjure their heresies,

And in that castle's courtyard, they were burned,

As if in celebration of our flesh in savage triumph.

 

My friend began to weep and then to rage,

And then in a great fit did look

To answer what he saw.

 

But I did hold him back to save us

From the fury in his better faith.

 

Then silently, we witnessed, in astonishment,

Some several women rush to join

Their sisters in the fire.

 

One did bear an infant in her arms,

 

And in her dash of faith,

She mocked our papal banner.

And yet, some fellows egged her on

And howled to hear her mortal shrieks,

Despite that they would burn for every yelp!

 

Yet, I know the more condemning guilt,

As no strong hand was sorely needed

To suppress my Christian outrage.

 

We kept a token of that day �"A cloth of white,

Emblazoned with the emblem of the yellow cross.

We filled it with some ashes from the fire that we saw

And kept it as a thing we should in prayer remember.

Yet we did hide this from the sight of other men,

As we feared the times’ disfavor, and let it sink

 

Beneath a chapel’s floor �"

Never to speak of it again.

 

Therefore, Most High and Loving Lord,

Send forth Your bulging star that can effect

A better universe in my dear friend and me.

For we are what you did create and love.

 

Oh, mark, Almighty God, I am Baptiste De Guerre,

A craven man of Earth who rose to save a friend,

And thus, did lose his better self.[1]

 

Song of the Archangel

 

The Ascension of Baptiste De Guerre,

The Prophet of Aleppo & Vassal

To King Louis VIII of France

 

U

 

Bleed thee no more, thou pilgrim heart!

 

Thy faith hath planted thee in love

And gives these words to thee:

 

-

 

Thy Jean Ami grows in the wreath already,

As that great star did bulge and burst

Before thy words were spoken!

 

His debt is paid in full -

And so is thine;

 

No more is owed!

 

Behold!

 

 The Crown of Life![2]

 

Go unto the Gardener, now -

‘Tis time, and thou art welcome!

---

[1] Jean Ami is the Blue Knight’s invention. He is to Baptiste De Guerre what Paris Osowski was to me - a nobler, more idealistic self. When he suppresses Ami’s righteous anger, he typifies what many soldiers have done since the dawn of time: He subordinates his better impulses to the cause of his physical survival. It is the primary lesson of war. For a person’s instincts regularly triumph over the integrity of his moral or religious beliefs. De Guerre does not like what he sees, but he is overwhelmed by the force and enormity of the physical world.

 

When a confetti bee invents an alter-ego, he does so because his experience teaches him that the realities of the physical world transcend his unprovable beliefs, and because of the shame he feels in recognizing that this is so. He knows, too, that he is a bad fit in such a world, and he is at all times aware of his differentness. Hence, what is an amalgam of his most cherished ideals and rigid delusions arises to protect him from what he has reasoned. It is often a more admirable self but it is also a more vulnerable one.

 

 

 

[2] According to James 1:12 and Revelation 2:10, the Crown of Life is given to “those who persevere under trials.” �" De Guerre’s better self ultimately remained faithful to God, despite having experienced the profound evils of war and the sin of seeing.