loyalty good - unmerciful loyalty not so good

Pentecost + 22 - Year A

gifts have come
out of the blue and unbidden
identified in time and space
as to their origin
and where thanks and loyalty
is to be directed

loyalty demands loyalty
even when it should
bring forth justice
or mercy
and so best intentions
fall before strict loyalty

gifts intended for expansion
brought self-constriction
lest past and future gifts
be diminished
great care is given
to securing gifts

and eventually a gift
intended to lift all boats
puts a hole in the hull
with a mere bit-o-mass
of heaviest density
an empty spot sinks

blind loyalty
conditional mercy
cheap commitment
comes around to bite
lions as strong as nittany’s
to cause cain’s self-exile

surprising gifts
turn to expected perks
privileged position
never ready for
a next surprise
or humble response

therefore encourage
a wider application
of building up
a reservoir of common good
against punctured entitlement
of ballooned loyalty