The Epitome of Religious Experience
It came,
that lofty pinnacle
in time,
that instant of rapture
undefined,
when all the weight of flesh
and every fear
fell off from him
as chains fall
from the oppressed,
and an angel is born within;
when all the host of the opposed
– of those unblessed –
could offer no more argument;
when all uncertainties
were banned,
and peace inhabited the soul.
He stood alone
to make this solemn testament –
to reach the Promised Land,
to see that glorious blinding light
as Saul had seen,
to be baptized
amid this great, great silence
on all sides.
Immersed now
in the bliss of the divine…
his eyes uplifted to the sun.
The kick went
straight between the sticks.
The crowd went wild.
The ref blew time;
and Wales had won.
From ‘Of Gods and Men’
© 2023 Dafydd Hughes Lewis. All rights reserved. 
Absolutely love this. Great build up to that splendid climax! I will think of this next week at the Fiji game!
The scope of your work astounds, from the comic to the lyrical, tragic to mystical, often soul-searching, often laugh-out-loud, and always with perfect choice of language, style, and format. As ever, looking forward to the next!
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Thank you for a really lovely comment, Roma. I’ll be with you in spirit, in Otsu!
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You’ll need to send that spirit a bit further south to Oita. The training camp is at Otsu but the game is in Oita. I’ll be sending thought waves of this poem to Biggar, Patchell, or Halfpenny – whoever is on the road to Damascus at the time.
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Thanks for putting me right, Roma. I should have checked. I’m sure your thought-waves will get through to those three kickers!
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Another of my favourites – so clever!
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Thank you, Jacydo! One of my favourites, too, and I thought it would be a timely one for the World Rugby Cup.
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Very timely indeed! I envision the “glorious blinding light” to be floodlights as he prepares with “his eyes uplifted to the sun.” to deliver the victorious kick. Love it.
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Thank you, Cicymru. I hope others also take the trouble to read the poem through to the end – and the punch line!
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