Markings 55 - Poem of the Day

Does it Matter?

after Martin Luther who launched the Reformation on 31st October 1517

Does it matter

that Martin didn’t nail his Ninety-five Theses

on the church door at Wittenberg 500 years ago?

But actually went out

and bought a book of stamps

and posted them to all his friends?

Does it matter

that Martin didn’t say

‘Here I stand I can do no other!’

when demanded by the Pope to recant?

But actually asked the Holy Roman Emperor

‘Can I come back tomorrow?’

Does it matter

that Martin wasn’t a pure, flawless, devoted priest

but one whose three passions

were food

wine

and sex

and not necessarily in that order?

Does it matter

that Martin was an obscene anti-Semite

who gave Hitler

the imprimatur

for the extermination

of six million Jews?

Probably.

But like most of us

Martin was a mixture of good and bad;

sacred and profane. Who changed history

and whose most famous words were,

‘We are all beggars: this is true’.

Jeff Guess

©Jeff Guess 2017