Of Eternal Joy

for Franziska

At the apex of all madness
Star atop the Christmas tree
Sparkles that sweet shining gladness
Of the light you share with me

In the joy of the eternal
Past the mad beyond the sane
The celestial and infernal
Burden blessing boon and bane

Friskaziska Franziskana
How I love your German name
Here post-Pax Americana
We are peaceful just the same

In the midst of sin and sadness
Burns a higher nobler flame
In its everlasting beauty
I find all I need of fame

In our existential duty
To transcend the shit and shame
Of a brutal and barbaric age
With Franziska on a pilgrimage

Of eternal joy though sanity cease
One girl one boy: practitioners of peace

+Steven Curtis Lance



Copyright MMVI