Natural feelings lead like destiny
To actions good or bad, and in the olden days
The holy churchmen drew up a helpful list
Of seven words beset by demons.
I’m acquainted with its pride and greed,
Intensely versed in lust and anger,
And hopefully outgrown away
From gluttony and envy. They all
Are attitudes, and lead to coils
Of goings-on and troubles
Once delineated sin.
There’s left a seventh, number four
On Chaucer’s list who called it accidie.
It had its demon, and now its laden
Underneath a tally of broad-based synonyms
That analysis teases out into another list,
With apathy, ennui, boredom, torpor, sloth.
It’s not a doing but some non-doing and those
Churchmen have us coming and going,
For what we do and what we don’t.
They tell us inaction can speak even louder than some words
