A WORLD WITHOUT GOD
Without a higher authority
to make rules to live by I think we’d lose our way.
I know some who’ve figured it out for themselves
and seem to have done well, but most of us
need to take our case to a higher court.
We have been given the holy ten, but treat
them as if they were the ten suggestions.
To obey is a challenge in the living of today.

And speaking of challenges, what about
loving your enemies? It’s been said
Go ahead, it will drive them crazy.
So far I haven’t tried it. As for loving
your neighbor as yourself, somehow
I’ve always been a bit partial to me.
Then we were given the Golden Rule,
easier to follow and truly a miracle
if everyone played the game.

Questions like, Can prayer bring about change
in the mind of God? rear their reptilian heads
making it hard to believe prayers can make
a difference, especially when we pray
for opposite outcomes of ballgames, wars and weather.
If we add Thy will be done,God is off the hook,
and may give your petition more consideration.
But don’t count on it. Murmuring, wailing,
and gnashing of teeth have all been tried to no avail.

Yet I persist. If I stop to count my blessings
I feel greedy asking for more. In the end,
God is our last best hope, without whom,
to quote Nabokov, we will have been
nothing more than a brief crack of light
between two eternities of darkness.

epa:7/18/23