{"id":411,"date":"2007-09-29T15:26:12","date_gmt":"2007-09-29T19:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/2007\/09\/29\/the-testament-of-philogenes-the-gardener\/"},"modified":"2014-04-06T07:26:01","modified_gmt":"2014-04-06T11:26:01","slug":"the-testament-of-philogenes-the-gardener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/the-testament-of-philogenes-the-gardener\/","title":{"rendered":"The Testament of Philogenes the Gardener"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am an ancient gardener,
    Philogenes by name –
Though Adam <\/em>I have called myself
    Since to this land I came.<\/p>\n

In Zion I was born and raised,
    While not so far from me
The one they now call Christ the Lord
    Grew up in Galilee.<\/p>\n

In truth I never met the man,
    Despite my Christian boss,
A Pharisee, who loaned the tomb
    When died he on the cross.<\/p>\n

Nor do I know if Yeshu saw
    Himself as Son divine,
Instead of mortal prophet who
    Should hubris undermine.<\/p>\n

The day he died I was away,
    I always fled the crowd
That thronged the city at the Feast
    And pushed, and pulled, and rowed.<\/p>\n

On Sabbath, though, I overheard
    The body had been laid
Within the very tomb behind
    A lettuce bed I’d made.<\/p>\n

Apparently a multitude
    Had come to view the cave:
Just then the only thought I had
    Was how those plants to save.<\/p>\n

It took all day to walk back home,
    I got there late at night;
At four I rose and stealthily
    Approached that dreaded site.<\/p>\n

In twilight dim, without delay
    I moved the casualties;
From compost pit I then beheld
    A woman on her knees.<\/p>\n

I scrambled out, but off she sped
    Before I could her call;
When heard I voices soon fast by,
    I hid behind a wall.<\/p>\n

The woman now was with two men,
    And to the cave they rushed;
I watched while more prize lettuces
    Were felled, or split, or crushed.<\/p>\n

I held my breath as they unrolled
    The stone along its groove;
“He has<\/em> arisen!” someone cried.
    I was too stunned to move:<\/p>\n

For if they thought an empty tomb
    Meant resurrection plain –
Instead of, say, removal sly –
    The crowds would come again.<\/p>\n

Yet this was not my only dread,
    I feared the Christian mind;
And time has shown I was correct
    To leave it all behind.<\/p>\n

While Jewish groups deem Christ  became
    The Son of God above,
Some proselytes appear to think
    That God bore flesh for love.<\/p>\n

Thus, step by step, in psychic terms
    The Name is yielding power
To man, who in the sombre tale
    Erects the Babel Tower.<\/p>\n

Moreover, every Christian dreams
    Of dark apocalypse:
For he well knows unconsciously
    God’s world he would eclipse.<\/p>\n

O let us heed our primal myth,
    Which serves the flesh and soul,
Where earth’s the garden of the Lord
    And he who loves it whole.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Jerusalem
1 January 2000<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am an ancient gardener,    Philogenes by name –Though Adam I have called myself    Since to this land I came. In Zion I was born and raised,    While not so far from meThe one they now call Christ the Lord    Grew up in Galilee. In truth I never met the man,    Despite my Christian boss,A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,31,34,12,17,16,33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}