Lovely Consolation

--------------------/1 Kings and Things Chapter 1 (Part 2) (Twilight) Lovely Consolation: The Thoughts Of King David Very Advanced In Years


When you become king, (well
a good king rather, with every honest intention
to benefit the land by your service in office)
the lure of wealth, the love of various women
the power you wield, even in the most miniscule matters
whether the trading price of wheat
or the market value of oxen
the availability of means to exact vengeance
on your foes absolutely
that gives you a slight case of hubris and hegemony
don't compel you to rise each morning ten minutes
(incredibly and exactly ten minutes for almost forty years!)
before the cock’s crow
and place the crown on your head
hastily grabbing the royal scepter and with pride
basically bestride the throne
anxiously awaiting news from your generals, prophets,
and treasurer
though all of these are perks (though some made for purely
militaristic or economic reasons)
it is the ideal form of truth, virtue and ultimately worldwide accord
under One God
that catalyzes every breath you take, and every enemy you enchain
and paints the vision daily, monthly, yearly on the canvas of your mind
it is the refuge from a decidedly laborious day
the companion that lights your bedside candle at night
and whilst you sleep leans over your body and snuffs it out
yet as you age, limitations begin to obfuscate everything
that was at one time plainly lucid
your flesh weighs heavily on your bones impeding your spry gait
preventing you from accompanying your soldiers in battle
diminishing, ever so slightly your commanding, brawny ethos
amongst your subjects, and invalidating to a certain degree
your field acumen and grasp on conquests - sadly
calling into question your fitness for duty
and it stupefies your mind, binding your logic making you incoherent
with inchoate ideas before the royal court
it begins clouding your vision, so that you cant distinguish shadow
from person
and muffles the sound of voices in your ears
of the very advisors who once stood in awe of your mind
profuse in their commendations of your market and penal intellect
who now stand in silent pity at your pitiable state
unable to wryly and ingeniously outwit
the hawks who insidiously want to swindle Israel
into running a trade deficit, thus imperiling our power
from within
or judge wisely between two people in a conspicuously easy case
and once you’ve lost that ideal, that necessary ruling aesthetic
that comforts you
or rather, the ability to actualize it, or see it come to pass
its hard to get up early anymore
or be enthusiastic for the throne you now realize
is a bit uncomfortable, and uneven at the left armrest
....what I mean to say is
when the end is near you feel as if you've lost a paramour
the one who once lay so faithfully beside you and gave you dignity
abandons you as though your whole relation was just a tryst
and the night is always cold
and the days are always too long
and all you want is to be warmed


(by thoughts reassuring you that you will always be and always were a good king)






--------------1 Kings 1:1-4
When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. So his attendants said to him, "Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm." Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The woman was very beautiful