Zell's Hell

(on the speech of Senator Zell Miller at the Republican National Convention, Sept. 1, 2004)

'Twas in the seventh circle, its third part,
Dante with Virgil in infernal realms
Saw sinners damned for Violence to Art. [1]

Running with blood, a red rill rings that plain
Of burning sand, where naked wraiths assailed
By flakes of flame, cry out in endless pain.

Now by his recent speech, another comes
To join those souls stretched on the searing ground
From the assembly of satanic sons.

Bear witness what his paltry prose express:
"It is the soldier, not the reporter
Who has giv'n us the freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who
Has given us freedom of speech." And yet
He roused the cheers of a crusading crew,

That riotous assembly who claim Christ their lord
Yet blaspheme God, profaning sacred Scripture
Which is, as self-described, a doubl'edge sword. [2]

Therein, in the beginning was the Word. [3]
The Word became flesh [4] and a living poem.
By Him, the words "Let there be light" [5] were heard.

And poets that glance from Heav'n to earth, from earth
To Heav'n, giving a name to airy nothing, [6]
Toil His tradition that brought life to birth.

The poet has won not just freedom of speech
But earned the right, in priesthood to mankind,
To prophesy, to minister, to teach.

We also read in holy scroll unfurled
Our battle is not against flesh and blood
But with "rulers of darkness in this world,

Spiritual wickedness in high places." [7]
Then in this struggle there can be no basis
For soldiers and their military bases.

So when that senator from Georgia spoke
To cheers at the Republican convention,
He sealed his doom that Heaven's wrath awoke.

With Dante's help, we see how hapless Zell,
His treasure stored on earth and not in Heaven, [8]
Is fitted for his fitting fit in Hell.

September 2004

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[1]       See Dante Alighieri, 'Inferno', Canto XIV.

[2]         Hebrews 4:12.
This idea is also powerfully amplified in the dichotomy author and professor Cornel West observes between "imperial" christians and "prophetic" christians: "we have to recognize that 80% of Americans are christian, 96% believe in God, 72% believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, and 49% say they spoke with God at least three times on intimate terms in the last four days. These are fellow citizens. Which means what? Which means that the battle for the soul of American democracy is in part a battle for the soul of American christianity, hence the call for prophetic christians, as opposed to Constantinian christians. By Constantinian christians, I mean those who defer to the empire, very much like the Emperor Constantine, who was converted in 312 AD and decriminalized christianity in 313 AD. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Theodotius the First, his successor...

"...what we have today in the christian right are Constantinian christians. They are imperial christians. They have lost the prophetic fervor of the very Jesus Christ that they proclaim as their savior. In fact, they're willing to sell their souls for a mess of imperial pottage in the name of the very Jesus who was put to death by the Roman Empire, the empire of its day...

"...right now, never in the history of America has organized christianity had such power and clout, and especially an organized christianity which is in the back pocket of Corporate America...But prophetic christianity must be reinvigorated if in fact democracy is actually to expand on the ground" ('Democracy Now', Sept. 7, 2004).

[3]      John 1:1

[4]      John 1:14

[5]      Genesis 1:3

[6]      See William Shakespeare, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', V.i.12-17

[7]      Ephesians 6:12

[8]      Matthew 6:19-21