Larry Brody’s Poetry: ‘King of Kings’

NOTE FROM LB

Going all Biblical on you today, but not sure why. Maybe because a holiday that many people treat with a sort of religious reverence is coming this week. Maybe because I’m trying to escape these troubled times. Or because I’m looking for a way to face them.

Yeah, I’d like to think that.


King of Kings
by Larry Brody

I like to fantasize that in a previous life

I was King David, the sweet singer of Israel.

You know, the slayer of Goliath,

The Lord is my shepherd guy.

Little David had everything.

He was handsome. He was talented.

He was macho.

He was a king!

Of course, everything went to shit for him,

When he got old. Hundreds of failed marriages!

Children who kept trying to kill him!

Infirmities that kept him in bed for years!

So now that I think about it,

Why do I want to have been the big “D”?

Probably it has to do with all his sins,

A ton of them. And how after each one

He would fess up and beg God for forgiveness.

This is the Old Testament, mind you,

With a God who lay waste to whole cities,

Wiped out first-born children without a qualm,

Hell, even flooded the whole world!

But old David would ask for forgiveness,

And, presto, God would say, “Sure.

You’re forgiven. All is well.

Water under the bridge, my favored son.”

As long, that is, as David took his punishment.

Oh yes, the Lord forgave, but the Lord

Always made David pay.

That’s what all those rebellions and betrayals

Were about.

So I’m out here, living my current life,

And thinking, hey, once I was David,

Forgiven and punished,

Punished and forgiven,

Time after time after time.

Only what I’m really doing is praying,

For that same forgiveness,

And the strength

To take my punishment

Like a king.

###


Larry Brody is the head dood at TVWriter™. He is posting at least one poem a week here at TVWriter™ because, as the Navajo Dog herself once pointed out, “Art has to be free. If you create it for money, you lose your vision, and yourself.” She said it shorter, though, with just a snort.

Author: LB

A legendary figure in the television writing and production world with a career going back to the late ’60s, Larry Brody has written and produced hundreds of hours of American and worldwide television and is a consultant to production companies and networks in the U.S. and abroad . Shows written or produced by Brody have won several awards including - yes, it's true - Emmys, Writers Guild Awards, and the Humanitas Award.

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