Pareidolia

Bored and feeling rotten today so figured, you know, it might be fun to inflict a little of my poetry upon ATS especially in the form of a teasing sestina. Technically, it's not a perfect sestina as I cheated on it a couple times by using combos of words or alternatives that sound like one of the 6 words used at the line endings. Pretty sure I told iambic pentameter to sod off, too, but hey, sometimes bending the rules is more fun. The 6 different words at the line endings were randomly chosen by friends. Some of those friends are obviously jerks. (xenophobic and hierophany?! wth...)

Pareidolia

There are those who walk in this world with xenophobic
tendencies and shun its marvelous
diversity. A simple word
can deify an ant, a door or dog.
Dip the fingertips, touch the brow, clasp the silver medal,
and pray that you may witness a hierophany.

Why is it that every hierophany
follows these xenophobic
tendencies? Say amen and clasp the medal.
Seek the divine and find it all most marvelous.
How about a slice of toast or perhaps a talking dog?
Hush hush, don't be mad. I shant say another word.

Wait now, did I say that I wouldn't speak another word?
Forgive me, I was simply awaiting a hierophany.
Shapely steam, acid rain, or even that dog
would be of interest to my xenophobic
mind. It'd be marvelous.
The president, himself, would surely give me a medal.

Dip the fingertips, touch the brow and clasp the silver medal.
Follow His path, turn the cheek, and listen to His every uttered word.
We can sing and wait for anything to marvel us,
simply waiting for a hierophany
to present itself. Xenophobic
images crusted on a wall, though I'd still prefer a talking dog.

Ah yes, it is, therein, which dogs
me. Why would any deity choose toast to meddle
in our lives with? I suspect that they are xenophobic,
leaving us only with the Word,
seeking out any random hierophany.
A face in toast--isn't that simply marvelous?

Perhaps it is life, itself, that should marvel us
with the infinite complexity of a simple dog.
Why must we call the ridiculous a hierophany
whilst we overlook the microcosm within the medal.
The world and universe, so infinite that words
cannot describe their nature in one breath. We are xenophobic.

It is ourselves who tarnish and meddle,
seeking words from a dog,
always awaiting a xenophobic hierophany.