Apologia Of The Barbar Of Nueva Sevilla Poem by Andrew Morrison

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. Psalms 8: 4-8.

Man!
That I am.
I am that-
Man!
Fruit of Adam,
Born a benediction-
Reaper of Adam's bounty.

Barbarian!
That they are.
They are that-
Barbarian!
weed of Adam,
Born a malediction-
Reaper of Adam's wrath.

Unshaved and unsaved they
art barbered,
Bludgeoned as they bludge.
A weight of gilt-
the hollowed crux of the Christ.
I wield the bloody scythe to garner in
the sheaves of pure gold from the fields of sin.
Amen, alas I am he that has come
I brandish the razor for the work must be done,
they rest not till the harvest home.

Bring the King's tithes into the storehouse!
I comb to make up his jewels
all his jewels,
precious jewels,
his loved and his own.
The price for their salvation-
their very own crown!

The die has been cast,
they have been chaffered to the wind.
Unwieldy, wartless weeds,
shaved yet unsaved,
stubbed to raise to the higher calling-
Righteous Spaniard no
but heathen spaniel.

Dominion!
Dominion!
Dominion!
Fair Dominion!
The cursed-doomed to acrid flames,
I-festooned with saintly names.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam.

Dominican?
Dominican?
Dominican?
Friar Dominican?
Wherefore persecutest thou me?
Eli, Eli lama sabachthani!
For the chalice and bread I look to thee.
Canst thou me deny thy holy communion?
Tis by the slaying of lambs cometh remission.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam.