THE VILLAGE IDIOT

by Jay Frankston
(Little River, CA 95456)

Do not mock him
the village idiot
who runs naked
through the church of our beliefs,
our prejudices, arrogant convictions,
unyielding demands and placid acceptances.

Do not mock him
the village idiot
who breaks the glass
we toast each other with
and drinks the wine
as it flows from the barrel,
the blood of Christ,
martyred Jew
who believed in love,
the God of us all.

Do not mock him
the village idiot
who dances over our freshly covered grave
to release the laughter
from our buried body
so it can rejoin the ethereal soul
and laugh for eternity
at life . . . the biggest joke of all.

Do not mock him
the village idiot
who sings the praises of the unworthy,
the virtues of the sinner,
and the magnitude
of the smallest of us.

He knows truth
and his reflection can be seen,
village idiot, in your mirror.