Bejeweled

Bejeweled


When my heart gets too full of joy
and the words long to spill out
in torrents of love and delight…
when my heart gets too full of longing
for the fire of the Spirit…
when my heart breaks in prayer
for us poor banished children of Eve,
here’s how the Devil, in my 21st century world,
conspires against me:
He makes it easy to while away my time
--God’s time given to me as a great gift--
playing, instead, a banal game on my computer,
specifically, Bejeweled Blitz.
Its “jewels” cascade in gaudy,
even ugly, plops, onto the screen
where I must group them into threes, fours, or fives
where I must match green ersatz emeralds, tawdry brown topaz, or gaudy yellow coins.

If I am cooperating especially well
with the Powers of Darkness,
the sound will be on,
and an imperious stentorian voice
will call out “One Minute!”
before metallic, ringing sound effects
accompany the rain of bright plastic forms,
and, as I match them, they disappear, explode,
or coalesce into burning jewels or mysterious pearlescent boxes;
and the Voice utters ridiculously encouraging commentary:
“Excellent!” “Awesome!”
Thirty or so minutes later, it dawns on me that

I have been bejeweled.
Thirty minutes, in which to live in gratitude,
in which to see the beauty of a topaz-winged flying bird,
in which to feel the gentle breeze in a sapphire sky,
in which to write a note to a friend whose love and loyalty are worth more than gold,
in which to make loving order in my home…

Gone.
Wasted.
Score two hundred thirty three thousand for that wily Satan.