Not to be charmed

For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord. When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.

-- Jeremiah 8:17-18

"Observe this motion: Clench the fist,

Pull taut the tendons, flick the wrist -- 

For thus did Paul of Tarsus shake

Into the flames the biting snake;

And thus did flex, escaping harm,

His bitten but unswollen arm.

The saints of old have shown the way;

Read thou their deeds and do as they."

What courage now can Paul inspire,

Who shook the serpent into fire?

The poisoned fangs that pricked his hand,

They pale before this poisoned land!

The air and water, bread and meat,

All that we breathe and drink and eat,

Is poisoned through and through, and all

Is worse than in the days of Paul.

And though I do as Paul, 'tis written,

Did when I myself am bitten --

A miracle? A single snake.

What difference can it even make

If shaking off the serpent, I

Breathe in relief a poisoned sigh,

And at the fireside take my seat

To warm my hands in poisoned heat?

And all is vain, and all is loss.

None in the end escape the cross.

And all is vain, and all is loss.

None in the end escape the Cross.