The Rubric

The Rubric

 

-A Soul Made for the Storm-

 

-

 

When rain comes down at midnight,

And a wind molests the lake,

 

The only reason

For the scene

Is that I am

Awake

 

For I am one soon taken

By a rubric^[1] in the night,

 

And ever would

These earthly eyes

Behold a magic sight

 

I do not fear a lightning flash

That fades into the black;

 

I am a soul made for the storm

And would not turn my back.[2]

---

[1] A rubric is a direction in a liturgical book as to how a church service should be conducted. Paris believed that a natural setting like the woodlands with its many available metaphors and homilies was the only church service he required. Although he eventually abandoned that belief, he remained open to it being generally true for others.

 

[2] Although Paris sometimes ascribes human-like intelligence to evil for dramatic purposes, he tended to view the darkness holistically �" To him, evil was the sum of all things that are physical (finite) and therefore deceptive, deadly, and demiurgic �" a kind of “hopeless situation” more than a repugnant individual.