From unchosen obligations
Unlooked-for knowledge comes
In desperate oblations
Blessed need for help is plumbed

For the world’s high walls have windows
We see through them—if we’re bound—
An untold astringent vision
That decenters circled rounds

And pain passes—understanding
Life’s farragoes realign
As we suffer beauty gladly
Obbligatos intertwine

To H. J. Hopewell, 2021.
Psalm 146.

Theodore Venables