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Trumpeter’s Lament

June 30, 2011 by

TRUMPETER’S LAMENT

by James C. Stephens

Friday, June 30, 2011 2:30 AM

 …

Is this still my country tis of Thee

Sweet land of liberty?

I’ve forgotten her face.

Was she but an illusion? An attempt?

She hangs in the balance.

A nation turns a deaf ear

to the Trumpeter’s cry and Herald’s plea

They hear, but do not act.

Thy blood is not on my hands, he weeps.

Knowing soon, shackles will be on theirs.

O Master, can we be?

Truth, the nation falls in shame

wallowing in the filth of unknown dogma

Eyes filled yet with prideful glance

‘We never were with Thee.’

The cock crows.

The Master beckons me follow.

Continue thy pilgrimage.

Am I mad?

Trumpeter. Look away.

See My Face

And do not look back.

 

…

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About jstephens

James C. Stephens was a graduate of a Buddhist Study Academy and a Buddhist leader for fourteen years (1970-1984). In 1978, he married Elizabeth, a Jewish Buddhist at a Buddhist temple. Following an accident in Japan in 1981 while on a Buddhist pilgrimage followed by an intense three year spiritual search through various other faiths and practices, James and Elizabeth made the decision to become disciples of Jesus Christ. James graduated in 1999 with a MA in Intercultural Studies from Fuller School of Intercultural Studies and in 2010, launched http://www.worldviews101.com/ which offers a twelve week course "A Christian Perspective on the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism."

He and his wife enjoy Landscape architecture, gardening, making kombucha and kefir, film, screenwriting, literature, and music.