Haagentis' Mutiny (450,000 BC)

A Short Story

Haagentis’ Mutiny
((The Hidden Ancient World) (450, 0000 to 300,000 BC))

How it might have happened? Part I of II



Rabel was a short, slightly bearded man who’s legs looked as if they had been broken, who worked with this two sons, mining gold on the Nacza plateau, which stretches some fifty miles in the Nacza desert (South of present day Lima, Peru) sometime near the middle of the Pleistocene Epoch, the Old Stone Age period. He had fought with a puma like wildcat, of a large sort, and his wounds never mended properly, he could do little work, and limped painfully about. To the alien force he was known as something of an elder of the group, a tribe, witless but needful as a slave labor leader amongst his kind, of which numbered within his cell group, perhaps near one-hundred and thirty Homo erectus like beings (within this period the Homo sapiens neanderthalensis would be created or born).
Haagentis, being the restless tyrant he was, and captain of the spacecraft, made the sons and daughters of the Rebel tribe work the mineral fields, hills and mines of the region to near the point of exhaustion, likened to racing a horse until it dropped dead.
In the half-dark of the little group of developing humans, work went at a crawl, and Haagentis went about swearing and protesting against delay in work. His planetary mission and his needs were of utmost importance, he claimed, which was for the most part, mining gold. At times he even had his soldiers work alongside the burly looking beings, who created a mimicking quiet protest among the established star gods of the skies; they felt a little belittled for being made to do such work.
Haagentis was fearful of failure, losing his rank, among his kind, or not gaining additional future rank, one or the other, and perchance, both circled his cerebellum, if indeed he had one.
Earth was for the most part, a new mission for his planetary species, he had come from the constellation, Hydra, and near the brightest star, Alphand, some 1700-lightyears away (which is hard to describe such a distance, perhaps if one took the distance between earth and the moon, which is 250,000-miles, that would be but a glass of water, out of the Pacific Ocean in comparison to the distance from Earth to the Alphand Star, and their planet, considering light travels at 186,000 miles per second, and a light-year is equal to near 6-trillion miles, or 5.87) he had used what is called a wormhole from their point of origin to earth, a wormhole being similar to bending or folding time (another example might be, if one is to have a sheet of paper and earth is on the edge of one side of the paper and the Alphand star on the other, it is a distance let’s say of eight inches, folding the paper in half, now you are right next door, or like walking across the street).
“This is our chance,” he yelped, “to save ourselves the scorn of our planet, upon our return home, and deliver to them a year’s supply of energy: if we don’t our planet will suffer because of us.” Although there was perhaps some half-truth to his statement, it was by all means exaggerated.

It came to the point Rabel’s sons and daughters and kin, which made up the majority of the tribe of one-hundred and thirty, were unable to even crawl any longer without resting, and stood up to stretch their weary bones and limbs, as Haagentis stood emotionless by the edge of his large spacecraft, the freight being loaded onto it hourly, throughout the twenty-four hour day—nonstop, and he swore “I feed you beasts, you lazy good for nothing beasts, Work!” He then shouted “Don’t stop the work!” Himself, idling...
He ran back and forth yelling: “You’ll be my ruin, you’ll be my ruin!”
As the Alien soldiers looked at these humanoid creatures, stooped, misshapen figures crawling slowly out of tunnels, and digging on the surface, listening to their grunts, Haagentis driving them like cattle, their hearts were deeply touched, and they wanted to protest but dare not.

In the dim light of one such evening, a particular soldier took note and much interest in the situation, here were slow moving figures of women, crawling, men lifting, long rows of grotesquely misshapen human like beasts, treated like animals for the most part and to the captain they were somewhere around that borderline that distinguishes one from the other. And here they were, driven to hard labor by the likes of god figures, to perform this terrible task that were made for machines and horses, and alike.
An arm went up for the human beasts to rest, it was Haagentis’ arm, and came down three minutes later, again swiftly. Enough of a break, to break the slow rhythms of the human beasts…

The next day this particular soldier, one of the legions finest thought about what he had witnessed, having learned, professionally learned, Genetic Engendering, which was quite advanced on their home planet, he felt, an experiment could take place here, not that it was part of the mission, but it could have devastating effects in the short and long term production of minerals on earth.
At the present this particular soldier felt, Haagentis’ was on a backward road, a stupid and prolonged and insistent repetition was his game, what he felt necessary—no great deeds by him, just some push to get the freight out of the ground, into the spacecraft, into outer space, and on its way back to their home planet, and create a myth of his greatness to the world he was from.
Serr, was the soldier that felt adding one gene, just one gene to the DNA blueprint, within the double helix of the Homo erectus, feeling it would make the difference in advancing this upright humanoid creature to a better understanding of instructions, and awareness, the gene being HAR1. Thus this new creature could take a quantum leap overnight, to becoming what would be coined in future time as, the Neanderthal, undertaking with instructions the actual construction of great monuments, and mining duties, just a little patience would be required.
He had dropped this idea into the computer banks onboard the spacecraft, sending it back to his uncle, ahead of Extraterrestrial Life on Other Planets, at the Planets main University, where his uncle was a professor, and with the planetary counsels permission, the idea became a reality. Serr inferring, in time, earthly methods of cultivation of the soil would change the lifestyles of all such creatures as know known as the Homo erectus.

Haagentis was alarmed at this betrayal of one of his subordinates, but it ended the long exacting hours of slave labor to the point of near deathly exhaustion, and genocide of a race. Although Haagentis’ character didn’t change any, meaning, he swore and threatened as much as ever, but with less intensity, and drive. He never lost any rank, but he never gained any.

No: 802 (4/25/2011)

The Peace Keeper
((The Hidden Ancient World) (300,000 BC to 40,000 BC))


How it might have happened? Part II of II





Those on Serr’ planet, have a life expectancy of 15,000-years. And Serr lived to a ripe old age of 15,019 years, so the annuals of the planet indicate. Under the guidance of his uncle, and the Planetary University, of Greater Science for Extraterrestrial Life on other planets, Serr had come back to Earth a dozen times within his lifetime. And left a legacy for his countrymen, to foster, and in keeping a peace keeping mission, but instead of using the wormhole and coming by ship, he had built the ‘Gate of the Gods’ a solid door within a mountain, of Peru, near Lake Titicaca. (In more modern terms, it is now called a Star Gate, it is a device created by ancient beings where one can travel instantaneous between two planets, and Serr’s uncle had established one, within a stable wormhole. The only way to make it inoperable is to bury it, and thus this one still remains active, to my understanding. There are three left on earth. The technology was already in place when Serr’s uncle had created this devise; it had been created by another race long before, the Alterans, who had built the first one having received his inspiration out of need, when his people had to exodus from their galaxy, like Moses had to exodus out of Egypt.) As I have already indicated it kind of works on the same premise as a wormhole. So it was really old technology renewed, but Serr was the first to have used his uncle’s devise.

Serr had become very famous on his planet, and now his uncle had been dead for some five-hundred years. And what the Planetary Counsel of the Ruling Body of his planet wanted was, a peace keeping force on earth, because several other species of aliens were now coming down to visit—not an invasion, not yet anyhow, but they felt a moral responsibility to do so, plus there were some species who would have liked to have had the planet for themselves, and exterminate all the developing Homo sapiens, and have all the minerals for themselves, while others simply wanted to mine and strip the planet and enslave the inhabitants.
But the question that came up was: “How this could be done without alarming the inhabitants, and not changing the composition of earth’s natural development, with its ever-growing cultures worldwide, it would take careful discrimination.

Serr came up with the answer, or solution, again it would take genetic engineering. But a different kind this time and he needed volunteers. Thus, let me now explain in the best way I can, what he did, and how he did it, which lingers on unnoticed to this very day, although there has been updates in-between.
Upon the death of his uncle, he took his spirit, and found a human shell for his spirit to inhabit (thus he was the first source of the experiment). I am oversimplifying it so let me get into more detail: he somehow found planet volunteers to inhabit the genetic strain, already tracked and selected for use. Finding humans with the least karma (Karma being in its most rudimentary form, and I must reverse this part of it: the lack in creative power, not embracing past and present deeds, a substance of the mind, unseen)(perhaps the best way for me to put it is, they were seeking—trying to find a host for the spirit, a person with low Karma in essence, for the higher one operates in its own field without the intervention of any external, independent ruling agency, thus they needed the reverse as I’ve pointed out, if that makes sense.)
Now, to my understanding, Serr found these individuals, hosts and spirits, now the modification genetically was to attach the two. The egg and the sperm were genetically altered so the appropriate manifestation would occur, then fertilization. At this juncture, the two were assigned to the embryo. Thereafter, a bonding took place between the being and the spirit. They operated at the subconscious level for the most part. The embryo was then transplanted to the host, implanted in the female that is for the gestation process to take place.
And this had worked out quite well, hurtling through time, finding man had made another jump to the Cro-Magnon state over night, pert near, at 40,000 BC. Thus, evolution was altered to accommodate the forth coming, Homo sapiens, which would not be the last stage of development.
What was meant to be an exploration of earth, turned out to be—now in the modern day, a camouflaged peace keeping force, with three-percent of the world’s population being not only mixed with the genetic codes within their DNA of the Neanderthal, but Alien DNA.

No: 804 (4/27/2011)
This is just a SF View, I’m still a Christian

Two Poems: State of the World & Allen Ginsberg

Two Short Poems

Two Poems for the Goats!

State of the World
((April, 2011) (poetic prose))



President Obama gave the country a big squeeze, between Bush and Hitler, now he’s just watching us bleed. Venezuela’s oil is funding all the thieves in all the South American Capitols…and then some. Haiti is demanding the world pay up what they promised them, for their earthquake; Japan is waiting in line for their bid. Cuba’s rising like the Nile, and Egypt’s looking for Democracy down the road, in all the wrong places I suppose. Libya’s killing people like swatting flies, a civil war, like Pol Pot, back in ’74. Obama is giving Iran the big bomb; Israel’s no longer singing our National Anthem. North Korea’s blackmailing us again, waiting for another handout— let’s give it to them, a Mickey Finn. Everyone’s sinking is sand, and we’re all clapping hands. Russia’s unseated the EU and UN, and calls America “Friend.” China’s trying to squeeze the old buffalo on the American nickel, like squeezing a pickle, waiting for it to bust, but they like us. Afghanistan and Iraq, our twin Vietnam is still going on and on and on, and not one American is in protest, the strongest country in the world has become gutless. I suppose I can go on and on, Peru is picking out a new president, called Cancer and Aids, and all the Peruvians are waving flags. I think there’s something very wrong out there.

No: 2934 (4-28-2011)

Oh Deep Sigh
(Elegy for Allen Ginsberg)

((April, 2011) (poetic prose))

Okay Allen, dead as a doornail spirit, dark as an abyss worm, gray as a city’s furnace, unhappy as dark unleashed by night, over your nasty gravesite—
Your appearance is unnecessary you were quickly replaced— No more 1200-pages books filled with cremated words of disgrace.
Ugly spirit, you touched him with your ugly hands, when he was young, a beautiful kid and body, so pure, it had hope beyond the ugly spirit, what he became.
Impersonal ugly—
You showed the world your muscle, cold and clad, over forty-years, zipping that zipper up and down, up and down like a clown! Listening to moans and groans with your eyes closed, then writing it all out, with a warped pen and mind, to remind us you were once alive.
You would have been better off—and us—had you never been born.

No: 2935 (4/28/2011)

† Pasión de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, según San Juan

† Pasión de nuestro Señor Jesucristo,

según San Juan (18, 1—19, 42)

Apresaron a Jesús y lo ataron

C. En aquel tiempo, Jesús fue con sus discípulos al otro lado del torrente Cedrón, donde había un huerto, y entraron allí él y sus discípulos. Judas, el traidor, conocía también el sitio, porque Jesús se reunía a menudo allí con sus discípulos.
Entonces Judas tomó un batallón de soldados y guardias de los sumos sacerdotes y de los fariseos y entró en el huerto con linternas, antorchas y armas. Jesús, sabiendo todo lo que iba a suceder, se adelantó y les dijo:
“¿A quién buscan?”
C. Le contestaron:
S. “A Jesús, el nazareno”.
C. Les dijo Jesús:
Yo soy”.
C. Estaba también con ellos Judas, el traidor. Al decirles ‘Yo soy’, retrocedieron y cayeron a tierra. Jesús les volvió a preguntar:
“¿A quién buscan?”
C. Ellos dijeron:
S. “A Jesús, el nazareno”.
C. Jesús contestó:
“Les he dicho que soy yo. Si me buscan a mí, dejen que éstos se vayan”.
C. Así se cumplió lo que Jesús había dicho: ‘No he perdido a ninguno de los que me diste’. Entonces Simón Pedro, que llevaba una espada, la sacó e hirió a un criado del sumo sacerdote y le cortó la oreja derecha. Este criado se llamaba Malco. Dijo entonces Jesús a Pedro:
“Mete la espada en la vaina. ¿No voy a beber el cáliz que me ha dado mi Padre?”

Llevaron a Jesús primero ante Anás

C. El batallón, su comandante y los criados de los judíos apresaron a Jesús, lo ataron y lo llevaron primero ante Anás, porque era suegro de Caifás, sumo sacerdote aquel año.
Caifás era el que había dado a los judíos este consejo:
‘Conviene que muera un solo hombre por el pueblo’.
Simón Pedro y otro discípulo iban siguiendo a Jesús. Este discípulo era conocido del sumo sacerdote y entró con Jesús en el palacio del sumo sacerdote, mientras Pedro se quedaba fuera, junto a la puerta. Salió el otro discípulo, el conocido del sumo sacerdote, habló con la portera e hizo entrar a Pedro. La portera dijo entonces a Pedro:
S. “¿No eres tú también uno de los discípulos de ese hombre?”
C. El dijo:
S. “No lo soy”.
C. Los criados y los guardias habían encendido un brasero, porque hacía frío, y se calentaban. También Pedro estaba con ellos de pie, calentándose.
El sumo sacerdote interrogó a Jesús acerca de sus discípulos y de su doctrina. Jesús le contestó:
†. “Yo he hablado abiertamente al mundo y he enseñado continuamente en la sinagoga y en el templo, donde se reúnen todos los judíos, y no he dicho nada a escondidas. ¿Por qué me interrogas a mí? Interroga a los que me han oído, sobre lo que les he hablado. Ellos saben lo que he dicho”.
C. Apenas dijo esto, uno de los guardias le dio una bofetada a Jesús, diciéndole:
S. “¿Así contestas al sumo sacerdote?”
C. Jesús le respondió:
“Si he faltado al hablar, demuestra en qué he faltado; pero si he hablado como se debe, ¿por qué me pegas?”
C. Entonces Anás lo envió atado a Caifás, el sumo sacerdote.

¿No eres tú también uno de sus discípulos? No lo soy
C. Simón Pedro estaba de pie,calentándose, y le dijeron:
S. “¿No eres tú también uno de sus discípulos?”
C. El lo negó diciendo:
S. “No lo soy”.
C. Uno de los criados del sumo sacerdote, pariente de aquel a quien Pedro le había cortado la oreja, le dijo:
S. “¿Qué no te vi yo con él en el huerto?”
C. Pedro volvió a negarlo y enseguida cantó un gallo.

Mi Reino no es de este mundo

C. Llevaron a Jesús de casa de Caifás al pretorio. Era muy de mañana y ellos no entraron en el palacio para no incurrir en impureza y poder así comer la cena de Pascua.
Salió entonces Pilato a donde estaban ellos y les dijo:
S. “¿De qué acusan a este hombre?”
C. Le contestaron:
S. “Si éste no fuera un malhechor, no te lo hubiéramos traído”.
C. Pilato les dijo:
S. “Pues llévenselo y júzguenlo según su ley”.
C. Los judíos le respondieron:
S. “No estamos autorizados para dar muerte a nadie”.
C. Así se cumplió lo que había dicho Jesús, indicando de qué muerte iba a morir.
Entró otra vez Pilato en el pretorio, llamó a Jesús y le dijo:
S. “¿Eres tú el rey de los judíos?”
C. Jesús le contestó:
“¿Eso lo preguntas por tu cuenta o te lo han dicho otros?”
C. Pilato le respondió:
S. “¿Acaso soy yo judío? Tu pueblo y los sumos sacerdotes te han entregado a mí. ¿Qué es lo que has hecho?”
C. Jesús le contestó:
“Mi Reino no es de este mundo. Si mi Reino fuera de este mundo, mis servidores habrían luchado para que no cayera yo en manos de los judíos. Pero mi Reino no es de aquí”.
C. Pilato le dijo:
S. “¿Conque tú eres rey?”
C. Jesús le contestó:
“Tú lo has dicho. Soy rey. Yo nací y vine al mundo para ser testigo de la verdad.
Todo el que es de la verdad,escucha mi voz”.
C. Pilato le dijo:
S. “¿Y qué es la verdad?”
C. Dicho esto, salió otra vez a donde estaban los judíos y les dijo:
S. “No encuentro en él ninguna culpa. Entre ustedes es costumbre que por Pascua ponga en libertad a un preso.¿Quieren que les suelte al rey de
los judíos?”
C. Pero todos ellos gritaron:
S. “¡No, a ése no! ¡A Barrabás!”
C. (El tal Barrabás era un bandido).

¡Viva el rey de los judíos!

C. Entonces Pilato tomó a Jesús y lo mandó azotar. Los soldados trenzaron una corona de espinas, se la pusieron en la cabeza, le echaron encima un manto color púrpura, y acercándose a él, le decían:
S. “¡Viva el rey de los judíos!”,
C. y le daban de bofetadas.
Pilato salió otra vez afuera y les dijo:
S. “Aquí lo traigo para que sepan que no encuentro en él ninguna culpa”.
C. Salió, pues, Jesús, llevando la corona de espinas y el manto color púrpura.
Pilato les dijo:
S. “Aquí está el hombre”.
C. Cuando lo vieron los sumos sacerdotes y sus servidores, gritaron:
S. “¡Crucifícalo, crucifícalo!”
C. Pilato les dijo:
S. “Llévenselo ustedes y crucifíquenlo, porque yo no encuentro culpa en él”.
C. Los judíos le contestaron:
S. “Nosotros tenemos una ley y según esa ley tiene que morir, porque se ha declarado Hijo de Dios”.
C. Cuando Pilato oyó estas palabras, se asustó aún más, y entrando otra vez en el pretorio,dijo a Jesús:
S. “¿De dónde eres tú?”
C. Pero Jesús no le respondió.
Pilato le dijo entonces:
S. “¿A mí no me hablas? ¿No sabes que tengo autoridad para soltarte y autoridad para crucificarte?”
C. Jesús le contestó:
“No tendrías ninguna autoridad sobre mí, si no te la hubieran dado de lo alto. Por eso, el que me ha entregado a ti tiene un pecado mayor”.

¡Fuera, fuera! Crucifícalo

C. Desde ese momento Pilato trataba de soltarlo, pero los judíos gritaban:
S. “¡Si sueltas a ése, no eres amigo del César!; porque todo el que pretende ser rey, es enemigo del César”.
C. Al oír estas palabras, Pilato sacó a Jesús y lo sentó en el tribunal, en el sitio que llaman “el Enlosado” (en hebreo Gábbata).
Era el día de la preparación de la Pascua, hacia el mediodía.
Y dijo Pilato a los judíos:
S. “Aquí tienen a su rey”.
C. Ellos gritaron:
S. “¡Fuera, fuera! ¡Crucifícalo!”
C. Pilato les dijo:
S. “¿A su rey voy a crucificar?”
C. Contestaron los sumos sacerdotes:
S. “No tenemos más rey que el César”.
C. Entonces se lo entregó para que lo crucificaran.

Crucificaron a Jesús y con él a otros dos

C. Tomaron a Jesús y él, cargando con la cruz, se dirigió hacia el sitio llamado “la Calavera” (que en hebreo se dice Gólgota), donde lo crucificaron, y con él a otros dos, uno de cada lado, y en medio Jesús.
Pilato mandó escribir un letrero y ponerlo encima de la cruz; en él estaba escrito: ‘Jesús el nazareno, el rey de los judíos’.
Leyeron el letrero muchos judíos, porque estaba cerca el lugar donde crucificaron a Jesús y estaba escrito en hebreo, latín y griego. Entonces los sumos sacerdotes de los judíos le dijeron a Pilato:
S. “No escribas: ‘El rey de los judíos’, sino: ‘Este ha dicho: Soy rey de los judíos’ ”.
C. Pilato les contestó:
S. “Lo escrito, escrito está”.

Se repartieron mi ropa

C. Cuando crucificaron a Jesús, los soldados cogieron su ropa e hicieron cuatro partes, una para cada soldado, y apartaron la túnica. Era una túnica sin costura, tejida toda de una pieza de arriba a abajo. Por eso se dijeron:
S. “No la rasguemos, sino echemos suertes para ver a quién le toca”.
C. Así se cumplió lo que dice la Escritura: Se repartieron mi ropa y echaron a suerte mi túnica. Y eso hicieron los soldados.

Ahí está tu hijo - Ahí está tu madre

C. Junto a la cruz de Jesús estaban su madre, la hermana de su madre, María la de Cleofás, y María Magdalena. Al ver a su madre y junto a ella al discípulo que tanto quería, Jesús dijo a su madre:
“Mujer, ahí está tu hijo”.
C. Luego dijo al discípulo:
“Ahí está tu madre”.
C. Y desde entonces el discípulo se la llevó a vivir con él.

Todo está cumplido

C. Después de esto, sabiendo Jesús que todo había llegado a su término, para que se cumpliera la Escritura dijo:
“Tengo sed”.
C. Había allí un jarro lleno de vinagre. Los soldados sujetaron una esponja empapada en vinagre a una caña de hisopo y se la acercaron a la boca. Jesús probó el vinagre y dijo:
“Todo está cumplido”,
C. e inclinando la cabeza, entregó el espíritu.

Aquí se arrodillan todos y se hace una breve pausa.

Inmediatamente salió sangre y agua

C. Entonces, los judíos, como era el día de la preparación de la Pascua, para que los cuerpos de los ajusticiados no se quedaran en la cruz el sábado, porque aquel sábado era un día muy solemne, pidieron a Pilato que les quebraran las piernas y los quitaran de la cruz. Fueron los soldados, le quebraron las piernas a uno y luego al otro de los que habían sido crucificados con él. Pero al llegar a Jesús, viendo que ya había muerto, no le quebraron las piernas, sino que uno de los soldados le traspasó el costado con una lanza e inmediatamente salió sangre y agua.
El que vio da testimonio de esto y su testimonio es verdadero y él sabe que dice la verdad, para que también ustedes crean. Esto sucedió para que se cumpliera lo que
dice la Escritura:
No le quebrarán ningún hueso; y en otro lugar la Escritura dice:
Mirarán al que traspasaron.

Vendaron el cuerpo de Jesús y lo perfumaron

Después de esto, José de Arimatea, que era discípulo de Jesús, pero oculto por miedo a los judíos, pidió a Pilato que lo dejara llevarse el cuerpo de Jesús. Y Pilato lo autorizó. El fue entonces y se llevó el cuerpo.
Llegó también Nicodemo, el que había ido a verlo de noche, y trajo unas cien libras de una mezcla de mirra y áloe.
Tomaron el cuerpo de Jesús y lo envolvieron en lienzos con esos aromas, según se acostumbra enterrar entre los judíos. Había un huerto en el sitio donde lo crucificaron, y en el huerto, un sepulcro nuevo, donde nadie había sido enterrado todavía.
Y como para los judíos era el día de la preparación de la Pascua y el sepulcro estaba cerca, allí pusieron a Jesús.

Bible Reading for the Holiday, April 22, 2011

Gospel, Jn 18:1-19:42

1 After he had said all this, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron valley where there was a garden into which he went with his disciples.

2 Judas the traitor knew the place also, since Jesus had often met his disciples there,

3 so Judas brought the cohort to this place together with guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees, all with lanterns and torches and weapons.

4 Knowing everything that was to happen to him, Jesus came forward and said, 'Who are you looking for?'

5 They answered, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' He said, 'I am he.' Now Judas the traitor was standing among them.

6 When Jesus said to them, 'I am he,' they moved back and fell on the ground.

7 He asked them a second time, 'Who are you looking for?' They said, 'Jesus the Nazarene.'

8 Jesus replied, 'I have told you that I am he. If I am the one you are looking for, let these others go.'

9 This was to fulfil the words he had spoken, 'Not one of those you gave me have I lost.'

10 Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

11 Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword back in its scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?'

12 The cohort and its tribune and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him.

13 They took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

14 It was Caiaphas who had counselled the Jews, 'It is better for one man to die for the people.'

15 Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus. This disciple, who was known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest's palace,

16 but Peter stayed outside the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the door-keeper and brought Peter in.

17 The girl on duty at the door said to Peter, 'Aren't you another of that man's disciples?' He answered, 'I am not.'

18 Now it was cold, and the servants and guards had lit a charcoal fire and were standing there warming themselves; so Peter stood there too, warming himself with the others.

19 The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

20 Jesus answered, 'I have spoken openly for all the world to hear; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the Temple where all the Jews meet together; I have said nothing in secret.

21 Why ask me? Ask my hearers what I taught; they know what I said.'

22 At these words, one of the guards standing by gave Jesus a slap in the face, saying, 'Is that the way you answer the high priest?'

23 Jesus replied, 'If there is some offence in what I said, point it out; but if not, why do you strike me?'

24 Then Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 As Simon Peter stood there warming himself, someone said to him, 'Aren't you another of his disciples?' He denied it saying, 'I am not.'

26 One of the high priest's servants, a relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, 'Didn't I see you in the garden with him?'

27 Again Peter denied it; and at once a cock crowed.

28 They then led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was now morning. They did not go into the Praetorium themselves to avoid becoming defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

29 So Pilate came outside to them and said, 'What charge do you bring against this man?' They replied,

30 'If he were not a criminal, we should not have handed him over to you.'

31 Pilate said, 'Take him yourselves, and try him by your own Law.' The Jews answered, 'We are not allowed to put anyone to death.'

32 This was to fulfil the words Jesus had spoken indicating the way he was going to die.

33 So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and called Jesus to him and asked him, 'Are you the king of the Jews?'

34 Jesus replied, 'Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others said it to you about me?'

35 Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?'

36 Jesus replied, 'Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. As it is, my kingdom does not belong here.'

37 Pilate said, 'So, then you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'It is you who say that I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.'

38 'Truth?' said Pilate. 'What is that?' And so saying he went out again to the Jews and said, 'I find no case against him.

39 But according to a custom of yours I should release one prisoner at the Passover; would you like me, then, to release for you the king of the Jews?'

40 At this they shouted, 'Not this man,' they said, 'but Barabbas.' Barabbas was a bandit.

1 Pilate then had Jesus taken away and scourged;

2 and after this, the soldiers twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on his head and dressed him in a purple robe.

3 They kept coming up to him and saying, 'Hail, king of the Jews!' and slapping him in the face.

4 Pilate came outside again and said to them, 'Look, I am going to bring him out to you to let you see that I find no case against him.'

5 Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, 'Here is the man.'

6 When they saw him, the chief priests and the guards shouted, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!' Pilate said, 'Take him yourselves and crucify him: I find no case against him.'

7 The Jews replied, 'We have a Law, and according to that Lawhe ought to be put to death, because he has claimed to be Son of God.'

8 When Pilate heard them say this his fears increased.

9 Re-entering the Praetorium, he said to Jesus, 'Where do you come from?' But Jesus made no answer.

10 Pilate then said to him, 'Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?'

11 Jesus replied, 'You would have no power over me at all if it had not been given you from above; that is why the man who handed me over to you has the greater guilt.'

12 From that moment Pilate was anxious to set him free, but the Jews shouted, 'If you set him free you are no friend of Caesar's; anyone who makes himself king is defying Caesar.'

13 Hearing these words, Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated him on the chair of judgement at a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha.

14 It was the Day of Preparation, about the sixth hour. 'Here is your king,' said Pilate to the Jews.

15 But they shouted, 'Away with him, away with him, crucify him.' Pilate said, 'Shall I crucify your king?' The chief priests answered, 'We have no king except Caesar.'

16 So at that Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. They then took charge of Jesus,

17 and carrying his own cross he went out to the Place of the Skull or, as it is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,

18 where they crucified him with two others, one on either side, Jesus being in the middle.

19 Pilate wrote out a notice and had it fixed to the cross; it ran: 'Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews'.

20 This notice was read by many of the Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the writing was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
21 So the Jewish chief priests said to Pilate, 'You should not write "King of the Jews", but that the man said, "I am King of the Jews". '

22 Pilate answered, 'What I have written, I have written.'

23 When the soldiers had finished crucifying Jesus they took his clothing and divided it into four shares, one for each soldier. His undergarment was seamless, woven in one piece from neck to hem;

24 so they said to one another, 'Instead of tearing it, let's throw dice to decide who is to have it.' In this way the words of scripture were fulfilled: They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothes. That is what the soldiers did.

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.

26 Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, 'Woman, this is your son.'

27 Then to the disciple he said, 'This is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
28 After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed and, so that the scripture should be completely fulfilled, he said: I am thirsty.

29 A jar full of sour wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a hyssop stick, they held it up to his mouth.

30 After Jesus had taken the wine he said, 'It is fulfilled'; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.
31 It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies' remaining on the cross during the Sabbath -- since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity -- the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away.

32 Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other.

33 When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs

34 one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water.

35 This is the evidence of one who saw it -- true evidence, and he knows that what he says is true -- and he gives it so that you may believe as well.

36 Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture: Not one bone of his will be broken;

37 and again, in another place scripture says: They will look to the one whom they have pierced.

38 After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus -- though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews -- asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so they came and took it away.

39 Nicodemus came as well -- the same one who had first come to Jesus at night-time -- and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds.

40 They took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, following the Jewish burial custom.

At the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried.

Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

The Great Roof, of Villa Rica (and a Haiku)

The Great Roof, of Villa Rica
(It’s how it was… in the coffee plantation countryside, 2007)



The coffee plantations (or farms) lying close to the township of Villa Rica, raised coffee beans (when red, they looked like berries) which commanded top prices in Lima, and elsewhere throughout Peru, reached by bus or car only, from La Merced, mostly dirt roads. And those folks in town not engaged in the coffee business, were in the trades—carpentry, mechanic, or the restaurant business, house painting or building or the like. The few small grocery stores, bars and one main hotel, were all in walking distance and on the Main Street, which had just been paved with concrete, otherwise it was for eons, a dirt road. A city of ten-thousand or less, nestled within a green and luscious valley, cuddled by the Andes.
On summer mornings men, women and children went to work on the coffee farms. And when the coffee beans ripened, everyone was rushed back to work and the streets of city were once again deserted.
Smaller trucks were loaded with boxes of coffee beans while children and dogs played and laughed nearby, and everyone else picking those coffee beans in the plantation type setting, a few banana trees scattered among the coffee plantation, and a few young men would shake the tree to get a cluster of bananas for the workers, men smoking their afternoon pipes after a meal, or chewing coca leaves, they carried in their pockets, talking about production.
At night folks of the town loitered in the nearby park, up a ways from around the hotel I was in, it had a statue of a giant coffee pot in the park, a city icon that seemed to disturb the new mayor for some odd reason. Children recited poetry for their coming poetry fiesta, and the normal talk among the old folks on: horse racing, politics and religion. It’s how it was in Villa Rica—

Old men with lit pipes, young women with lovers, kids laughing, everyone gossiping along the curbs, all throughout the city sidewalks and especially on Main Street, in Villa Rica. Everyone had put on their white clean shirts, after a long day of crawling over and through the bush like shrubbery, of the coffee plantations, those coffee bushes on the farms, rows of coffee beans looking at you, in tangled masses. The girls put on pressed clean skirts and blouses, walked up and down the sidewalks before the young men. Under the trees lovers embraced.
At the end of the season for coffee bean picking, there was always a mild outburst of marriages to the town. So nicely isolated there was no great national problems that touched closely their lives, they received three newspapers three times a week, amongst the ten-thousand.
The soul and its destiny of each person was spoken out in the open on the streets, as was poetry, or the recent sermon at the church, and the coffee picking for next year, that was all that seemed to occupy the minds of the citizens of this little town.
The town had a character of its own. All the citizens of Villa Rica were like one big family. It was a town with an invisible roof of which everyone lived beneath. Here boys and girls fought and quarreled went to the same schools, formed life long friendships, fell in love, married, became fathers and mothers, grew old, sick and died. That’s how it was in Villa Rica—

No: 799 (4-21-2011)




Haiku on Truth

When you seek out truth
You may find an end in life—
Just a child will do…

No: 2930 (4/17/2011)

Piety Hollow (a poem)

Piety Hollow

((The Old Bent Drunkard) (a poem))

Among the streets, in small framed houses

Stumbled an old bent man, far gone in drink,

In Piety Hollow

And here he lived, slept and wept. His mind

Leaped, back to those far-off days, as he’d

Wandered the streets, of Piety Hollow

Staggering, and begging with no regrets, he

Had left dreams behind him, unmet; lips that

Touched liquor, with no sentiment

Now leering into creepy faces, weary and wet

Restlessly he was dying, in his submerged world

In Piety Hollow

For all that it is worth—he was a fragile soul

Cursed; stumbling along in dingy halls, in rooms

With discolored curtains and windows

…snarling screams, from unknown voices

Passed lighted saloons, not to be remembered,

In Piety Hollow

His legs now weak, and wobbly—with gratitude,

He sought long sleep, in a sea of diluted faces

Hoping to find peace …

“There is much to life,” he thought “in this world.

Too bad, I just couldn’t find it, here

In Piety Hollow”

No: 2929 (4-18/2011)

Among the Neighborhood (A Vietnam War Vignette, 1968)

Among the Neighborhood

(A Vietnam War Vignette, 1968)

The neighborhood guys and gals used to come into my room and talk and lie, drink and smoke, and well, did just about everything imaginable. It was a garage I rented out from Larry Lund, one summer in the late ‘60s; it was a barn-like room —parallel to Acker Street, on the North End side of the city, St. Paul (Minnesota). There was lots of noise, a trucking outfit across the street, and down the embankment in his backyard out a short way, a railroad ran alongside that edge that shook his garage, and the foundation of his house next to the garage. Often, perhaps too often in that garage our conversations were interrupted by those trains, freight engines jumbling up cars, whistles blowing, screeching iron on iron; freight cars banging against one another; cars racing up and down Acker Street. The garage we sat in, that I lived in for that summer was of a dirt floor, the old frame structure, the foundation somewhat sagged when a heavy freight train came by, the walls shuddered. In the evening a dozen guys and gals showed up with cases of beer, and bottles of wine, brought in from around the neighborhood; some had left the two bars up the block to see what was happening down at the garage. We drank all that beer up, and smoked one cigarette after another, and just talked, and talked. We had our music: Rock and Roll, and Country Western. Our Elvis Presley, and Rick Nelson, and Brenda Lee, and Johnny Cash, and Jack Scott—and our tough guys, but Larry was the toughest, and we had our guitar player, and our chess champion, and of course, our race car drivers, Mouse and Gunner. We were talking one time about being drafted into the Army and going over to the war in South East Asia, killing Vietcong, they called them gooks: What do you feel at the moment of shooting one of those military rifles and killing someone; suppose you get killed yourself? As we talked we sent Big Ace out for beer, or Rick—sometimes we just pulled out a bunch of dollars and said “I’ll buy if you fly!” meaning I’ll pay for it, if someone will go get the next case of beer, and there was always someone available. The girls were habitually silent during most of these talks. Big Ace was the tall fellow who could drink down a bottle of wine in three gulps, he was always willing to go get the booze, but never had a license, so we had to find someone, with a car too. Everyone had left and Jack was left, he had just come back from the War in Vietnam, he was drunk. His face was a little haggard. There was something strange going on inside his mind. When I looked at him sitting in the chair to the far left of me, he stood up, he went and sat on the sofa with me. He began to tell me something: whether it was the truth or not, I do not know. Anyway, he talked. “Everyone was talking about killing or being killed in here a while ago,” he said. “I killed some gooks over there, in Vietnam. I didn’t aim to do it” he said quickly. I didn’t make any kind of expression on my face. I figured if he wanted to tell me about it, about killing some of those Vietcong, well, that was up to him, it was okay with me, I wasn’t as drunk as he, actually I had drank very lightly up to this point. “It was very easy,” he went on to say. “You meet all sorts of Vietnamese folk alongside of roads, walking down dirt roads, in the rice paddies alongside of roads. At one time I had been driving down this road—one I had went down a dozen times before, and a group of Vietnamese tried to stop my truck, Charlie, the VC, he uses them to do this and then wham! They are mostly farmers, desperate at times, you don’t know what to do or believe.” He was taking his time, unsure how I would respond to his story, then he must had taken it for granted I would hear him out and understand. I knew something about him; he and I hung out a lot at one time. I figured by now, he had a good start on the story and was bound to finish it, and he drank down two more beers, as I sat there to listen of course, just waiting. “It was rainy weather that day. I was on my way back after delivering some supplies to a campsite, I was on my way back to my base, and this group of Vietnamese were coming down the muddy road, rice paddies on each side of the road, it was near dusk, they were waving for me to stop…” he now looked at me, smiled a drunken and sickly smile, what he thought was humorous about it I don’t know. He was hesitating, but wanting to get at something. Why he kept fending off telling me, I wanted to know. “I hit the whole bunch of them, farmers or not, with the front of the truck, I ran right over them, they flew everywhichway, gone to pieces, I had to pick their flesh off my bumper when I got back to base,” he said unexpectedly. “I did it because I thought I had to do it,” he said. And now he was looking directly at me, he seemed to be uncomfortable, I turned my eyes away.

No: 796 (4-15/2011)