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Chapter 5
1. In the temple there was a ceremony—and a great show of clerics and devotees.
2. And someone asked him, ‘What will become of them?’—He answered, ‘What do I know! But they have reason to fear.
3. ‘For, it is said of them on that day: The Miserere is past, the death tolls are silent.’
4. But the servant of the temple heard him and cried out, ‘This man blasphemes! Get him away form here!’
5. And a crowd of clerics and devotees gathered around him—who wanted to chase from the square.
6. But he said to them, ‘Woe unto you, clerics and devotees, who close earthly paradise to people—who do not enter and let no one enter.
7. ‘Woe unto you, clerics and devotees, blank headstones, who seem clean on the outside—but on the inside you’re full of vermin and rot.
8. ‘Woe unto you, clerics and devotees, who shake up the earth and sea to make converts—and who make them ten times more perverse than you yourselves.
9. ‘Woe unto you, clerics and devotees, who devour the assets of widows and orphans—on the pretext of prayers and works of piety.
10. ‘Woe unto you, clerics and devotees, who preach poverty and abstinence—and who amass riches and are greedy for honors and power!’
11. Then a politician said to him, ‘Man, saying this you offend us as well!’
12. But he answered, ‘Woe unto you too, lawmakers and moralists—you burden the world with heavy laws that don’t affect you at all.
13. ‘Woe unto you who erect statues to those whom your fathers killed—and you who continue to kill those who say same the same things:
14. ‘For, you will be held accountable for all the blood spilt—to maintain your power.
15. ‘Of all who came to herald the truth—and whom you killed, burnt, strangled, beheaded, shot,
16. ‘Of all those who died in prisons—under the Cayenne sun or in the Siberian snow.
17. ‘Of all the blood and all the pain—you, I say, will be held accountable before this generation has passed!’
18. And the people grouped around him, murmuring, ‘He’s too bold, he won’t talk for long.’
19. But he told them this parable: A dying man left a rich orchard as an inheritance for his sons.
20. ‘Now, the younger of his sons knew how to read and write—but was full of cunning and malice.
21. ‘The other was simple and good, but had been able to learn nothing—for he worked constantly, every day doing his brother’s work as well as his own.
22. ‘So, when the father died, the younger took a paper and wrote a bunch of foolishness and absurdity on it.
23. ‘And presenting it to the one who didn’t know how to read, he said: This paper is the last will and testament of our father.
24. ‘Here’s what he enjoined us to do: Me, I have to take care of the books, say prayers—and do mysterious things that you’re too simple to understand.
25. ‘And you, you have to cultivate the orchard, trim the trees—get rid of the waste and graft the wild stock;
26. ‘And you will pick the fruits when they are ripe, but you won’t eat them—because they are for our father who is dead, and this is a sacred mystery.
27. ‘The uneducated one believed and obeyed like this for a long time—but one day he learned to read.
28. ‘And he read the so-called testament of the father—and saw that it was only a bunch of foolishness that his brother had invented.
29. ‘And he watched his brother and surprised him—while he was eating alone the fruits of the orchard.
30. ‘And he was throwing away everything he couldn’t keep—so that his imposture wouldn’t be discovered.
31. ‘ So, he became outraged in his heart against his impostor brother—and violently chased him far from the orchard.’
32. Now, the clerics and the politicians, hearing this, became enraged—for truth is a cruel thorn.
33. And they began to ask him insidious questions—to catch him doing or saying something against the law and have him killed.
Chapter 4 * Chapter 6
Black Lung
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