The Thief (a poem)

This was inspired by my discussion with Marie. But it goes in a direction all its own. 

 

The Thief 

When she was young, the girl went to a soothsayer, 

Watched as the grandmother laid out her cards. 

"This is your destiny, Seven of Daggers, 

You'll profit from treachery, subterfuge, theft." 

The girl joined the Crypteia, stealing to feed herself; 

Pillaging with the boys, binding her breasts; 

Bathing alone in the freezing-cold Eurotas; 

Never undressing and hiding her sex. 

Then she enrolled in a college for cutpurses, 

Studied from masters the Art of the Steal, 

Learned to abscond with whole civilizations 

And thieving from those who had stolen before. 

_____ 

One day she sat herself down for a reckoning, 

"Is this what I want for the rest of my life?" 

Turning away from her thieving and hiding, 

She made a new life herself, planting and growing things. 

But still in the back of her mind she heard echoing, 

Words that the soothsayer spoke long ago: 

"This is your destiny, Seven of Daggers, 

You'll profit from treachery, subterfuge, theft." 

And truly, the growing things brought her no profits, 

But left her to scratch out a living in sweat. 

She had the respect of her friends and herself too.

But mere self-respect doesn't pay any bills.

Marie and the Seven of Swords

Sometime last week Marie did a daily Tarot reading and she told me the seven of Swords showed up. We discussed her reading briefly and I expressed a little puzzlement at the card. It was in her Self position. Did she feel sneaky or deceptive?

She replied by sending me the following email:

Seven of swords....

It's actually one of the cards with special resonance for me; I got it a LOT when I was first reading/having readings done, back in college.  I even wrote a poem about the card; I never talked about that with you.  

I spent some time seeing if I could find the poem, but failed.  As I recall, I never completed it; it petered off.  I have recreated the first bit, but pretty sure there was a little more than I remember and not sure if this is accurate.  Anyhow, here it is:

Stealing Knives (originally ca. 1981/82)

Stealing knives

and will they slash my wrists?

Stealing knives

and will they cut my hands?

No opinions

I'm flying home from a week visiting Marie, and I heard an announcement at one airport: "This airport uses facial recognition software. Please remove your mask and look straight into the camera. If you prefer not to use this software, please speak to a gate agent ahead of time."

Am I crazy that this worries me? It's not like the use of facial recognition software has been entirely benign everywhere else that it has been introduced. (*cough* China! *cough*) There's an argument that I have nothing to worry about, so long as I do nothing wrong; but to assume that no innocuous actions will ever be reclassified as "wrong" is to assume a level of virtue and probity in every single one of our elected and appointed officials which seems ... I don't know ... maybe "optimistic" is the gentlest word to express what I mean.

Also I wonder if this is the wave of the future? Will it become universal? I suppose I could always stop traveling by air if I don't want to deal with it. That sure sounds practical.

Of course my defense in cases like this is never to do anything overtly non-compliant, and to rely on being boring. Not only do I try to avoid doing anything non-compliant, but I try to avoid doing anything that calls attention to myself at all. And I never express opinions.