In the Next Life, Canto III, stanzas 345-349

As he had ordered, so did she obey,
and when he motioned her to take the helm,
she did so, finding to her deep dismay
that even wordless, he could overwhelm.

While Esther kept the course they had begun,
an interval less lengthy than it seemed,
she watched as Ciral’s outlook came undone,
enchanted by the way his forehead gleamed.

When he at last looked up, the gleam had moved
into his eyes, and brightly he declared,
“Again I thank you, Esther, you’ve improved
the quarry that you thought you’d snared.

“I’m human, and I shall no more pretend
that I’m not subject to an inner tide.
It’s part of me, not something I can end
the way I waved away my weaker side.”

Another riddle. This time Esther guessed:
“So you’ll receive the Lord into your heart?
You’re ready, just like that, to be so blest?”
She was ecstatic—this would be her start.

His laugh, though gentle, slipped between her ribs.
“Although I know why God is held so dear,
I can’t believe what I know to be fibs.
I shan’t pretend. Did I not make that clear?

“Your way of thinking wants to replicate.
As well mine does, and I’ll no longer fight
my nature. To be like you is my fate.
This, strangely, is more powerful than spite.

©2011 Louis A. Merrimac

In the Next Life, Canto III, stanzas 369-373

We need to cut this simple girl some slack.
Her teasing in all likelihood was meant
to throw her adversary off the track
so she could have more say which way they went.

To us, it’s obvious that would provoke
someone like Ciral into something rash.
Plus, there was the denial thing she spoke.
Again, his face showed an internal clash.

A finger at each temple, eyes near shut,
he sharply shook his head to cut her off,
then whispered “Tell those things to follow, but
say nothing else until I’m through this trough.”

She felt the muscles in her chest constrict.
She thought of trying to retract the dare.
It would have mattered not. Something had clicked
when she had said he was within compare.

The situation had become so tense,
and Ciral so mysterious, so weird,
had she had hope of gaining influence
by charm or insult, it had disappeared.

©2011 Louis A. Merrimac

In the Next Life, Canto III, stanzas 365-368

“The question is ‘Why should I?’” he rejoined.
“Oh, I can see the urge to proselytize.
A clever phrase is worthless when it’s coined.
It gets its value when it multiplies.

“Like evolution, that procedure needs
something to function as its medium.
I shan’t go into genotypes and seeds.
Let’s just say the arrangement knows my thumb.”

“I’m sensing some resentment in your tone.
Are you perhaps reacting to the pull
by planting yourself firmly in a zone
where portions of your nature now are null?

“Or is it that you’re stretching things a bit?
Do you, in truth, expect me to accept
your word that you can make all persons quit
producing kids? I think you’ve overstepped.”

©2011 Louis A. Merrimac

In the Next Life, Canto III, stanzas 361-364

“I guess you could say it’s a handicap
possessing total objectivity.
You normals are protected by the crap
that filters much of what you hear and see.

“As much as I enjoy this potency,
and really don’t consider it a fault,
it’s scary to imagine more like me.
We’d bring the human species to a halt.

“That will not ever happen; don’t you fret.
I’ve no desire to spread this little germ.
Your people may continue to beget
more carriers of genes (excuse the term).”

“Why not?” asked Esther. “You have worked so hard
to make this. Now it’s out the window thrown?”
She knew that she was letting down her guard
by letting Ciral’s schemes become her own.

©2011 Louis A. Merrimac