181 - Dignity

Dignity
By Al Carmines

You look away as I fill your bowl
As if to look at the hand that feeds you
would be less-majeste.
When I have gone away,
You deign sweetly to eat.
Salmon Feast, Chicken and Liver Bits
Become transubstantiated. into your own Host.
You make a meal a sacrament
as few humans are able to do.
You eat with
Dignity, Poise, the Graciousness that comes
from respect for your food.
Respect for yourself and quiet awareness
of those around you.

I suppose when Christ died
There were those of your breed around the Rood.
They may have watched solemnly as You suffered.

Teach me, Alma, to watch solitude and suffering
With the same solemn silence.

The Rev. Al Carmines is senior minister of the Rauschenbusch Memorial United Church of Christ in New York. He is a composer, lyricist, playwright, actor, and cabaret singer. He teaches Musical Theater at Columbia University and is a popular speaker and entertainer at colleges and seminaries throughout the country. His cat's name is "Alma," and he says he is "in awe of her."