"Out,
damn'd spot!
Out,
I say!"
[Macbeth, Act 5.
Shakespeare.]
*************************
"I was a yellow gumball,
Lord."
[SILENCE.]
"A yellow gumball:
that turned out to
be squishy and
sour,
in his mouth."
[PATIENT SILENCE.]
"I was a lemon gumball."
[PATIENT SILENCE.]
"So, he spit me out...
and, stuck another
quarter in the gum
ball machine,
and got another."
[TENDER GAZE.]
"I was a worthless
piece a' nothin'."
[LONG SILENCE.]
(Chuckle!)
"He was hopin'
to get a RED one,
this time!"
[PATIENT SILENCE.]
"I was dispensable,
Lord."
[SLOW NOD.]
(Shrug.)
"Heck,
there were a hundred
other gumballs,
in the machine.
Why SHOULDN'T
he have just stuck
a QUARTER in,
and gotten ANOTHER?"
[GAZE AT EARTH,
INTENSELY.]
"Yeah;
all he had to
do was SPIT
me,
outta his MOUTH!"
[PATIENT GAZE.]
(Spitting sound.)
"PUUIE!"
(Spit.)
"Just,
GO to the
MACHINE,
and get
ANOTHER one!"
[SILENCE.]
"DISPENSABLE,
THAT'S
what I WAS."
[PAUSE.]
[TENDER VOICE.]
"Not to
Me,
child."
(Shrug.)
"How do
I KNOW?"
(Spitting sound.)
"Maybe,
YOU'LL
get SICK 'a me!
..And,
SPIT
me, out...
TOO?"
[WISE GAZE.]
"How do I KNOW?"
(Spit.)
"That's how the
WORLD,
WORKS!"
[PATIENT NOD.]
"That may be true,
child."
"You BET!"
"But,
you forget something,
My precious."
(Tearful silence.)
(Whisper.)
"What."
[QUIET VOICE.]
"I AM
not
the world."
*********************
Truly
my soul
silently waits
for God;
From Him
comes
my salvation.
He only
is my rock
and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not
be greatly
moved.
[To the Chief Musician.
To Jeduthun.
A Psalm of David.
Psalm 62:1-2]
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