The Transfiguration

By Christopher Cadra













































Prelude
Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be
of God, but those that be of men. KJV Bible, Matthew 16:23

And he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments
became white as snow. Douay-Rheims Bible, Matthew 17:1-2





13. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?
14. He created man from sounding clay like unto pottery.
15. And He created Jinns from fire free of smoke:
16. Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?
Holy Quran, 55: 13-16 (English translation by Yusuf-Ali)


[sri-bhagavan uvaca--the Personality of Godhead said; kalah--time; asmi--I am; loka--the
worlds; ksaya-krt--destroyer; pravrddhah--to engage; lokan--all people; samahartum--to destroy;
iha--in this world; pravrttah--to engage; rte api--without even; tvam--you; na--never;
bhavisyanti--will be; sarve--all; ye--who; avasthitah--situated; prati-anikesu--on the opposite
side; yodhah--the soldiers.] The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Time I am, the great
destroyer of the worlds, and I have come here to destroy all people. With the exception of you
[the P!"#avas], all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain. Baghavad-Gita 11:32


We knew the world would not be the same. Few people laughed, few people cried, most people
were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying
to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed
form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that,
one way or another. Robert Oppenheimer

Table of Contents
I. The Living Dead
II. La fe verte/la fe rouge
III. Some Goings-on Downtown on a Weekend in May
IV. Old Time Religious Carnival Music
V. Oh me




























I. The Living Dead

The Clock said, Its half past one.
And when it was said to her, she took it as a joke
But she grew quite defensive, quite feisty.
It was less like a film and more like gauze,
A filmy residue, yes, but the cut
Required a bandage and for that she
Needed gauze. She needed it, needed it,
Like a nymphomaniac, or maybe just a maniac,
Either way, she needed it, needed it.

The Clock said, Its half past two.
And the voices are telling him to do things to himself
That hed rather not do, that he wouldnt like to do,
But the voices are persistent and persuasive.
They sound rather paternal if not authoritative,
If not both, and theyre telling him to hurt himself.
And he doesnt want to hurt himself. He has
Family and friends that care for him, and despite the voices,
He does not want to hurt himself, not tonight.
But the voices are persistent,
And the voices are persuasive,
And the voices dont listen when he begs them to stop.

The Clock said, Its half past three.
The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
Sing all a green willow:
Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
Sing willow, willow, willow:
The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans;

Sing willow, willow, willow;
Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones;
Lay by these: Sing willow, willow, willow;
Sing all a green willow must be my garland.
Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve.
I call'd my love false love; but what said he then?
Sing willow, willow, willow:
If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men!
So, get thee gone; good night Ate eyes do itch;
Doth that bode weeping?

The Clock shouted, IT IS FOUR OCLOCK! FOUR A.M.!
Where are we? In New York City?
New York, New York, City of Lights!
No, thats Paris. City That Never Sleeps!
New York, New York! New York City!
I had no idea that we had traveled so far!
Look! A man in a suit walks with a lady!
And look! Look! A hobo in a sleeping bag!
Look! Tourists with cameras! [Click-Click]
O! I had no idea life had undone so many!
One needs to keep ones heart hungry, and roam,
And if ones heart should ever be surfeited
(Currently surfeited), it should be made hungry
Again, resuscitated, so to speak,
Again, as with the art, ones art, the art,
If its currently dead
He sees, he saw, the sight remains:
Dawn approaches painfully, sluglike, disgusting.
Do not wither away, he tells himself.
He is nauseous, full of a nauseous dread.

II. La fe verte/la fe rouge

There he sat, wrapped in comfort, rapt in awe,
Contemplating God, the Devil, and other divinities,
Mysticisms, he in a fuzzy, hallucinatory state
Produced by a strange brew of gin and tobacco
"#$ %&'()*+$ ,(- .$%+/01 /$ +(). /23'$),4
"52+/$- .$%+/ (- )2,$ '/%)) +/$-$&6 &$ +/$ '7$$+$-41
The Priest was a good man, a respectable man,
Perhaps not the most respectable man,
But a good, respectable man nonetheless.
He had troubles that most all who knew him knew of.
But all of the Priests troubles were caused by
A very real, very intense struggle with God
A loud barking, howling,
A cauldron of unholy loves SCREAMING!
Screaming his name, summoning him,
Screaming and summoning, fairies, unholy,
An unholy suffocating hallucination
The Priest was having trouble bearing.
What is the time? Does anybody know
What time it is? Does anybody know?
In the crimson hall of the Crimson Queen,
The screams, unceasing, echo off the walls.
The fire unquenchable lights up the scene,
The fire unquenchable lights up the scene,
A near dead man, a message, in blood, scrawls,
ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE.
La fe verte, la fe verte, fe verte, fe verte,
La fe rouge, la fe rouge, fe rouge, fe rouge.
La fe verte, la fe verte, fe verte, fe verte,

ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE.
Hidden in a book, one of his books, a book, books,
The worthless book he had cut out a little stash in,
Was a pill that he knew would stop his thoughts
alone,
a beast
come
coming out of the sea, the sea, thesea
seven heads, power to the beast
like to the dragon, the dragonthe beast, infidels
see, I saw, and I saw
having seven heads and ten hornsdiadems, diadems
(get him to dream, take him to ancient Greece if he wanted, so he could listen to those
divinely possessed rhapsodes
, to mount olympusto mount niphates to view fromatop mount niphatesjust
north of paradisethe garden of eden
he neednt do all this, all the
the rouge fairythe faeriethe crimson
asthoumightestin

la fe
(gentle
odours
(waters
murmmering)
cherry-blossoms, white cups,
winebright dewand wild
roses,
and
ivy
serp-
en-
tine)
(the
rivers
trembling edge)

III. Some Goings-on Downtown on a Weekend in May

She was like chaos, the vast immeasurable abyss,
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
And man, the men flocked to her like flies to a light.
Those thighs, theyd say, those cans, theyd say,
That ass, theyd say, but all knew it was something else,
Something more, something different, something hidden.
Most dont know that fairies are angels who
Werent quite good enough to make it to heaven.
Oh yeah? You read that in a book? he said, chuckling.
Yes, actually, I did. I read it in a book, he replied.
The bathroom stall asked, What are you doing?
And the sick man had no reply, no reply, none.
I dont understand, I dont understand.
It does not matter what language you speak,
I dont understand you, and I never will,
Ill never understand.
EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS!
She had scratched until it bled: her forearm,
It had bled, it had bled, but she covered it up,
She covered it up with gauze, with gauze,
Like an old Egyptian mummy, like a mummy,
She covered her forearm, but she kept on
Scratching anyway [Scratch-scratch-scratch],
Like the match against the matchbook [Scratch-scratch],
And it lit, it lit up, the match lit up.
The sound of the pipe being hit was not, is not,
Phonetic, there is no realistic phonetic rendering
Of the pipe being hit. Hitting, hitting: A Whoosh!
Maybe, but only maybe. Not realistic, unreal:

That Woosh! is not real, not even close to the real.
Could you tell me the meaning of life? You went to a good school, didnt you? O! You
havent graduated yet! But still, I assume youve read some books concerning the
meaning of life, the fate of the world, havent you? he asked it, he chuckled, he
Had a front tooth missing, and he reeked of cheap booze.
He was frothing, frothing, frothing
Everybody was frothing, frothing
I dont belong here, she told herself. I dont belong here.
The mirror had written on it obscenities, and the kid wrote because
He sometimes thought he remembered death, and what death is like.
He was in and out of bars and coffeehouses, and he listened to most anyone
Who would speak to him, even if those whom he listened to
A neon sign: HOOKAH-LOUNGE
(!"#$% '"())*+, -".#+' /01234 5"*) 6'#*2 +)7.'.)%1+2#8
99 2:7# 5"4/01;1*5$ #) ;*<1)% $.) 0.*=1>8
He was not sure whether it was Friday or Saturday,
(And he had missed a girl)
He wasnt sure, he wasnt even sure
He could not think, he could not think,
Stale tobacco smoke inducing a trance.
Waves waving, patterns waving, moody sea,
A moody sea of flowers in his head.
He could hear the muffled sound of dotards reminiscing,
He could hear the piercing sound of young ones pealing.
I prefer the dotards, he thinks. Despite my youth,
I am one myself, older maybe, just maybe.
But she wasnt there, and she wasnt here either,
And he wondered where she could possibly be,
And he too wondered whether it was even her
He was after and not something else,
Something like the idea of her, or better,

Not the idea of her but the chase,
It was the chase he was after,
The chase he enjoyed, the chase he was in love with.
LAST CALL! LAST CALL FOR ALCOHOL!
It was one of those voices that seemed to be a part of the bar,
The voice of the floor of the bar, perhaps,
The voice of a part of the floor of the bar that was sticky
With spilt beer, and spilt soda, and other spilt stuff.
LAST CALL! LAST CALL FOR ALCOHOL!
The drunks were like so many subway rats,
Searching for a piece of cheese on the tracks,
And one of the drunks said to another:
LAST CALL! LAST CALL FOR ALCOHOL!





















IV. Old Time Religious Carnival Music

The women there were fairies, fallen angels.
They did me no harm but only because I didnt get too close.
You get too close to them, youll end up in trouble.
Real trouble, I mean, youll be walking in the ring,
The carousel. Before you know it, youll be part of the carousel.
COME ONE, COME ALL!
The tramps and the dwarfs saddle around the bearded woman.
The bearded woman could be the fat woman as well, if only
COME ONE, COME ALL! COME ONE, COME ALL!
All of these men in the back of the tent,
With dwindling hopes of immortality,
Can gather only the courage needed for immorality,
Yet it suffices. Immorality will always suffice.
COTTON CANDY AND CANDY APPLES: $5!
And the folk who had come could not place the faces on the right one face,
And so everyones walkin round with the wrong face on.
And the carousel was haranguing the children with its music,
And the carousel was spinning as fast as could be,
And it was calling out to those who would listen,
And it was calling out to those who would not,
And the children on it were struck in a daze,
And the others round it walked in a ring.
TRY YOUR LUCK AND WIN A PRIZE: $5!
There was an Arab man, just outside the ring, who wore a turban,
And he had, and held out for sale, a big bag full of stars,
Dwarf stars mostly, but others too, like flare stars,
And he was selling them for cheap,
cheap! cheap! cheap! tweeting like a bird,
DWARF STARS, DWARF STARS: $5! CHEAP!

He was showing off the stars, he was showing off the stars,
Like bowling balls of desire, like crystal balls of fire, fire, fire,
Blue fire, green fire, red fire, all kinds of fire.
Ah ha! Ha ha! Ha ha! Ah! Ha!
He laughed at a child who had grown blind
At the brightness of a flare star brightening,
And this made the trip, for the child, worth
A whole year of maturity, even if the maturity
Would wear off by the time he finished his
Unbelievably blue, unbelievably sticky cotton candy.






















V. Oh me!

When he came to, he was muddy.
And so was his bed.
He hadnt taken his clothes or shoes off.
His head was pounding and his senses hurt.
(WHIRLIGIG)
Whats a whirligig?
I dont know but it works.
What does?
The word.
The word?
The use. Meaning is use.
(John 10:34)
Meaning is use?
Whirligig, Whirligig, Whirligig.
Io vidi certo, e ancor par ch'io 'l veggia,
un busto sanza capo andar s come
andavan li altri de la trista greggia;
The carousel, the whirligig, the ring.
The ring, the ring, the ring, the ring.
He was walking with the others round the ring,
In the ring, on the ring, he was the ring.
He meant to turn back, but he saw others
I did not know life had undone so many.
e 'l capo tronco tenea per le chiome,
pesol con mano a guisa di lanterna;
e quel mirava noi e dicea: Oh me!
(The question, O me! so sad, recurringWhat good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are herethat life exists and identity).

EXT. DOWN BY THE RIVERNIGHT
Gosh, golly! Look at that! It's a shooting star!
Wow, a shooting star. I've never seen me a shooting star!
Their eyes follow the shooting star with wonder.
Boy, that's cool!
It shoots, it shoots, the star, it shoots.
What is a shooting star anyway? Do you know?
Yeah, dummy. It's a star.
No, but I mean, why does it shoot?
I think it happens when a star gets too hot.
The shooting star fades away.
She fishes around for a stone, finds one, picks it up, and rises to her feet.
Clear your mind, snap your wrist, clear your mind, snap
Clear your mind. Snap your wrist. Easy as that.
Clear your mind, snap your wrist, clear your mind, snap your wrist
You know, it might be easier to clear your mind if you quit chanting.
Shush! I'm trying to concentrate.
She composes herself, winds up confidently,
And throws the stone, with a little snap of the wrist,
Into the river:
The stone skips once, twice, three times
Into the darkness, into the darkness,
A whole star cluster in a marble sack.
They both wanted to be stars, both,
But both were too blue, both
Were too wet. And neither could get
(The stars stay white in the blue sea
(Or if they get blue, they never look it),
But only because they never get wet)
Hare K!"#a Hare K!"#a
K!"#a K!"#a Hare Hare

Hare R$ma Hare R$ma
R$ma R$ma Hare Hare
The waves, the waves came crashing down
(And up, and side to side),
Breaking, leaving, breaking, breaking
(But the stars stay dry, they stay white
(Never sleeping, always waking)).
They stay (always waking), always breaking.
PATER noster, qui es in clis;
sanctificatur nomen tuum:
Adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in clo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie:
Et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris:
et ne nos inducas in tentationem:
sed libera nos a malo.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
Ash-hadu alla ilaha illa-llah.
Ash-hadu alla ilaha illa-llah.
Ash-hadu anna Muhammadar-Rasulullah.
Ash-hadu anna Muhammadar-Rasulullah.
Hayya ala-s-Salah, hayya ala-s-Salah.
Hayya ala-l-falah, hayya ala-l-falah.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
La ilaha illa-llah.
(1 John 4:8)
Sukhino v$ khemino hontu