Origins, 9

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum.

This is to say,

on the way to our current debates.

The Muslim tide rolled,

setting up splintered defenses

and new identities,

and that is what produced

the Reformation,

a sudden new need

for control,

for identity,

new ways to view

the Christian world,

...not so much

the condemnations

and criticisms

history will tell us

made such things necessary,

but a splintering

in a shattered shield,

an infinity of crusades

that fight endlessly

over the same ground

to this day.

And on this rock

we roll ever onward,

convinced 

it rolls away,

and yet,

and yet...