The Libertine

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The Libertine
By Rev. Michael Junkroski
Allow me to introduce myself
I am called the Libertine
I am the scourge of things held sacred,
I am feared by kings and queens.
I lived—by your count,
Many centuries ago
But I have returned,
For a moment,
Once more,
To speak to truth
And fight the power
And, God willing,
To inspire you to do even more.

I am the Libertine
I always speak my mind
I have nothing to lose
And nothing to fear
Because I am guided by love.
All the time.

I come to you today
My friends
To convince you of the truth
Your freedom is an illusion.
Your choices have been made.
We have all been turned into puppets
On our master’s royal stage.

And our masters are the power elite,
The 1%, the few,
Who have it all
And hoard it all,
Then give us scraps
to chew.

In my day this caused revolution.
In yours a collective yawn.
And I weep
And wonder how and when
It all could have gone so wrong.

My friends and I died fighting
For life and liberty
An effort I now realize
Was as futile as picking weeds.

For fighting is a fool’s errand
And never creates true freedom.
I know now
What I wish I’d known then,
That Liberty is a gift from God
That can only be reached
When fighting ceases
And peace instead
Invades the hearts of men.

I am a man in anguish,
I am a woman forlorn.
I am everyone
With a broken heart,
Tormented and dejected,
patience and conscience worn.

People laugh and call me crazy,
Even stupid and naïve.
“The infidels will kill you” they say,
Not realizing they are the enemy who stays,
Who invades foreign lands
And enslaves mind, body and soul.
“We go in to bring hope!”
They loudly proclaim,
Then they rape
And pillage
And maim.
We bring not freedom
Nor restoration of Liberty.
By fighting we become
Those we seek to destroy
In a cycle of hateful violence
That lasts an eternity.

For I now know that those who fight
are filled with hate and rage.
And while in my youth
I shared those lusts,
I'm wiser now.
In only God I trust.

For I am the Libertine,
No country is my own.
I put my faith in a God of love,
And in love,
And love alone.

I am the one who speaks for justice
The one who takes a stand;
Who sings of love
And frees the slaves
And never
With a gun in my hand.

For violence is the last resort
Of the unimaginative boor,
While speaking to love
Takes courage—
Not war.
Never war.

Tear down the military installations!
Close their soul-crushing gates!
For libertines need neither bullets nor bombs,
Our kind does not tempt fate.
Fate is for the non-believer,
Who sees a vengeful,
Cruel God,
The ultimate master of puppets
Who pulls our strings--
Yet, doesn't that seem odd?

For the world is a cruel,
Evil place,
Where people live in fear;
No God of mine would allow that!
At least, not one who’s near.

So I go my own way
And believe what I feel in my soul,
For that’s what a libertine does.
We refuse to be part of
The hypnotized masses
And we know
God is love
God Is love
God Is love.

To hell with the old established ways
They've brought us nothing but grief and pain.
Here's to a new world,
A new vision,
New hope,
New life
From death regained.

Yes I, like you,
Am tired
Of always being told I’m wrong.
But the fearful shall not vanquish me,
I've yet to sing my final song.

No, I am just beginning,
And I hope you’ll come along.
Together we are all libertines
Fighting lies with truth.
It's exhausting and they will call us names—
They’ll claim we’re ignorant,
unpatriotic, and small
While we’re simply
resolute.

So if you are also tired, weak,
hungry, cold, and poor,
Then gather your huddled masses
And send them to MY shore.
The shore of the never forgotten
The land of the truly brave,
Where love and care
Defeat hate and fear
And never is fired a shot.
And where no one is a slave.

Remember to be a Libertine
The champion of all cast aside.
To live your lives beyond human rules
And step into mind Divine.

For in God’s love we are changed
And we know we do not struggle alone.
God is with us all,
Not puppets on a string,
But invaluable souls
Sent to change everything.

Are you up to the task?
Will you do what I ask?
Can you be simply decent people?
For if not,
Then the fate of the world,
I fear,
Will be left to the Hawks,
Who burn down our steeples,
And send our young people
Into the killing fields,
Crushing our hope
While all the time chanting,
“We’re setting you free,
We’re setting you free.”

Are you up to the task?
Will you do what I ask?
Can you be a Libertine?
Let your fear depart
Let God’s freedom into your heart
By believing you are
What somewhere deep inside you already know:
You are Special.
Beloved.
Created for love,
and through love
made to throw apart
all the rampant fear,
all the baggage of years
spent in war and xenophobia.

For God’s brave new world dawns,
And brings light on winds of song,
And we,
Libertines all.
Must now play
our own glorious, perilous part.

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