Cymande (pronounced Sah-mahn-day) was one of the first to merge African rhythms with rock, funk, reggae, and soul. Comprised of members who hailed from such exotic locales as Guyana, Jamaica, and St. Vincent, the nine-man lineup (who were all entirely self-taught) contained Steve Scipio (bass), Ray King (vocals, percussion), Derek Gibbs (alto/soprano), Pablo Gonsales (congas), Joey Dee (vocals, percussion), Peter Serreo (tenor), Sam Kelly (drums), Mike Rose (alto, flute, bongos), and Patrick Patterson (guitar). courtesy of AllMusic.com
The Temple Cleansed
The Temple Cleansed
Beware that ox, or else your side will sport
A gash in it that you could drive a cart
Through, sir. This is unusual: For sheep,
Oxen, bird cages, tables, to be strewn
Outside the temple when they all belong
Inside so that we merchants can conduct
Our business, as we do at Passover
And other feasts, the prosperous times for us.
What am I doing out here with my sheep
And doves? I’ll tell you if you’ll help me keep
These brutes together while I feed the birds.
We merchants minded our own business while
The money-changers sat at tables where
They changed the coins from foreigners, who had
To pay for sacrificial animals
With shekels–they’re the only coins we take.
My lambs and doves are highest quality,
The perfect specimens for sacrifice
According to the Law, and I will charge
No more than what the market will accept.
A man needs to make a living, sir, to feed
His family, the worker deserves a wage,
Don’t muzzle the oxen while they thresh the corn.
I give my tithes and offerings, take care
Of neighbors when they need some help, my wife—
I’m true to her, I’ve made a covenant
With my own eyes not to cast them upon
A maiden, or to covet animals
My neighbors owns, his wife, his servants, or
Anything else, and for my righteous acts
Jehovah has expanded my domain:
A bigger house, more pastureland, more sheep,
Though I am not as important as you are
As caretaker of God’s Word and a guide
To men like me who need the Lord to steer
Them through the traps and thorns that block the path
To One who made the heavens and the earth,
To One who sent the rain to flood the earth,
To One who with his brilliance made the face
Of Moses shine so brightly that he had
To wear a veil, the people were so scared.
This interloper comes from nowhere, town
Up north with ten or twelve inhabitants,
And he presumes to tell the Pharisees
And Sadducees that they don’t follow God.
We Jews, entrusted with God’s law, we know
The way to God and we don’t block a soul
From knowing him. Today that man took cords
And bound them like a whip, a whip that stung
And took its share of blood, look at my back,
If you will, see the wound and the dried blood,
Is there no balm in Gilead? That man
Should cleanse himself before he seeks to cleanse
The temple, which is what he claimed that he
Was doing, the pretentious Nazarene
Born outside marriage to a peasant girl.
He should be whipped himself; I’ll count on you
And other leaders of our faith to charge
Him with a crime, give him the lashes, teach
Him justice from the temple he’s so fond
Of, and he’ll crawl back to his tiny town,
His tail between his legs, and let us be.
This was to be my biggest day all year,
With shekels that would buy my wife and son
As many gifts and treats as they desire:
I’ll take my sheep and doves, and scrounge for coins
From foreigners devoted to the Lord.
You say that you’ll do even more than whip
The Great Pretender? He will take the curse,
Crucified like the criminal he is.
A satisfactory result, if you
Persuade the Romans to pound him with nails
And lift him up, as Moses raised the snake
So that our ancestors in wilderness
Would look at it and God would heal them. Go
And do your work, I’ll back you ‘til the end.
~Day Williams
Fetal Development Week by Week
https://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-week-by-week
I’m a Person
My sex was settled from the start,
My DNA is mine alone,
I bleed if cut, God forms my bones,
My breathing tubes and neural parts;
Look how I’m formed, if you would:
With arms and legs, a heart that beats,
Intestines, brain, nose, mouth and ears–
I’m small and I have personhood.
~Day Williams
Break
I’m taking a break from toxic news and politics.
JOSHUA CHAPTER EIGHT
JOSHUA CHAPTER EIGHT
1 The LORD then said to Joshua, “Don’t be scared;
Don’t be dismayed. Take all the fighting men
With you and go to Ai; it is yours
To conquer now. For I’ve delivered to
Your power Ai’s king, his people and
His city and his land. 2 You will do to
Ai and Ai’s king just as you did
To Jericho and to its king, except
That you may keep the loot and cattle for
Yourselves. Prepare an ambush in the back
Of Ai.” 3 Joshua and the fighting men
Set out to go to war on Ai. He
Selected thirty thousand of the best
And sent them out at night 4 with these commands:
“This is the plan. Behind the city you’re
To set an ambush. Don’t go very far
From it. You must all be on the alert,
5 For I and all those with me will advance
And strike the city, and when men come out
Against us, as they did before, we’ll flee
From them. 6 They will pursue us ‘til we’ve lured
Them from the city, for they’ll say, ‘They are
Running away from us just as they did
Before,’ 7 so when we flee from them, you are
To jump up from your ambush and go in
The city, for the LORD your God will give
The city to you. 8 When you’ve taken it,
Set it on fire, according to the LORD’s
Command. You now have your instructions;” 9 so
They left that night, and lay in ambush at
A place between the western side of Ai
And Bethel–but that evening Joshua spent
Among the people. 10 Joshua rose at dawn,
Gathered his men and started off toward Ai
With Israel’s commanders. 11 The fighting men
With him approached the city, and they stopped
In front of it; then to the north of Ai
They set up camp. The valley was between
The army and the city. 12 Joshua had
Taken about five thousand men and set
An ambush off to Ai’s west, between
Bethel and Ai. 13 They had soldiers take
Up their positions to the north of Ai
And in the ambush to the west of it
While Joshua went into the valley, where
He spent the night. 14 Now Ai’s king saw this
And led the city’s men out early in
The morning to attack the Israelites
Within the Plain of Arabah, but he
Had no idea that an ambush was
Prepared behind the city. 15 Joshua and
All Israel retreated from the men
Of Ai, fleeing through the wilderness
As though they had been badly beaten. 16 All
Of Ai’s men were called to chase them; they
Pursued the Israelites and so were lured
Away from Ai; 17 not a man remained
In Ai or Bethel who did not chase
The Israelites. They left the city gates
Wide open, 18 then the LORD told Joshua, “Point
Your javelin toward Ai;” 19 and when the men
In ambush saw his signal, they jumped up,
Ran forward into Ai and they set
The town on fire. 20 When Ai’s men looked back
There rising to the sky was city smoke,
But they could not escape, for Israelites
Who had been fleeing toward the wilderness
Had turned back on the men pursuing them,
21 Because when Joshua and the Israelites
Saw that the ambush had prevailed against
The city, they turned round and charged against
The men of Ai; 22 then the Israelites
Inside of Ai came and fought, so they
Were caught within a trap, and all of them
Were killed; not one survived or ran away
Except the king of Ai, 23 whom they caught
And carried off alive to Joshua. 24 When
The Israelites had finished slaughtering
All Ai’s men in fields and wilderness
Where they had chased them, and when every one
Of them had been wiped out, the Israelites
Returned to Ai, killing those who stayed.
25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day,
The total population of the town,
26 For Joshua kept his javelin held out
Toward Ai ‘til he’d killed the last of them.
27 Only the cattle and the loot were not
Destroyed, for these the Israelites kept for
Themselves, because the LORD had said they could
To Joshua, 28 and so Joshua burned up Ai,
And it became a heap of ruins, as
It is today, 29 and Ai’s king he hung
Upon a tree and left him there until
The evening. As the sun was going down,
He took the body down and threw it down
Beside the entrance to the city gate,
And they raised over it a giant heap
Of stones, still there today; 30 then Joshua built
An altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD,

The God of Israel, 31 as Moses had
Commanded in his Book of Laws: “Make me
An altar of large uncut stones on which
No iron tool has carved a mark.” On it
They offered to the LORD burnt offerings
And offerings of fellowship; 32 then as
The Israelites observed him, Joshua carved
Upon the stones the law of Moses, which
He’d written; 33 then the people who belonged
To Israel, the aliens as well
As citizens, and with their elders, their
Officials and their judges, split up in
Two groups. One half of them stood at the foot
Of Mount Gerizim while the other half
Stood at Mount Ebal’s foot. Between the groups
The priests stood with the Ark of Covenant,
Prepared to bless the Israelites. All this
Was done as Moses had commanded them.
34 Then Joshua read to them the blessings and
The curses written in the law–the words
That Moses wrote down in the Book of Law.
35 There was no word of all that Moses had
Commanded that he did not read before
The total congregation gathered there,
With women, children too–all Israelites,
And aliens who helped them with their fights.