Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SIN, by JAMES OPPENHEIM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SIN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sin! Sin! Sin!
Last Line: Go, and contribute a man...
Subject(s): Sin


SIN! sin! sin!
I am sick of your ever worrying what is good and bad,
What is moral and sinful...

Go find what you really are...
Are you a cave-man underneath your civilized crust?
Or a sensualist or a glutton?
Are you a prostitute deep beneath your enforced monogamy?...
What is it really you want?

Better then to be what you are:
Better that, than to live a lie: to be a sweet conformer on the surface,
A respectable citizen and prompt voter,
And yet ever wallowing in secret shame and in sense of sinning!

The real sin is in being divided against yourself:
In wanting one thing and doing another:
For after all you are betraying yourself every moment:
Every moment what you really are is leaking through in some detestable manner...

Your desire for women becomes a smutty joke:
Your desire for power becomes bad temper to your inferiors:
Your desire for freedom comes out in mean irritations...

Perchance, though, you fear the civilized world would crumble if you let yourself go?
Why, it has already crumbled so far as you are concerned...
Do you think that such a dark and oozing creature is civilized?

I can tell you a better way...
Be what you are...
Then you can take your desires and lift them and harness them...
(Men that can harness Niagara can harness gluttony)
The murderer becomes the deft-fingered surgeon:
The child that models smut becomes the sculptor:
The luster after women becomes the music-shaping poet...

If you are really so anxious to contribute something to civilization,
Go, and contribute a Man...





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