And the Greatest of These Is Love

Doug Anderson

I saw the Pentecostals when the spirit struck them 

 get out of their van and rush 

 to the downed power line as it popped and sparked, 

 snake-whipping back and forth 

 on the road between two lines of cop-stopped cars, 

 yes, unheeding（不理会的） they got out and danced 

 with the blue tongue of it 

 in spite of the shouts and gasps 

 and how they jigged harder when it bit them 

 and what was almost funny but not quite 

 was how they jerked around 

 all angles and elbows and cut puppet strings, 

 their faces white-hot and God-boggled. 

 How clumsy we are in love, 

 can only dance with it a short while 

 before it forks toward farce or flight 

 and how magnificent to let go so it may drift 

 close to the water like seagull touching down and lifting up