Mr. Fred's Poetry Corner: The Longing

(I have always spent too much time thinking about God, which has been demonstrated over the centuries to be a great waste of time.)

I most fail to see
How anyone could believe
In a benevolent God,
What logic could entice a person
To believe in a God of mercy,
Unless that person were so put-upon
And desperate, and had cried
Out for mercy so intensely,
That the God of their wishes
Finally appeared.

Human history is rich in mystery,
And in fact, the march
Of human learning has only enlarged
The zone of mystery,
So perhaps it is not surprising
That we should give the mystery a name,
God, the supreme master of all mysteries,
But wither the leap from mystery
To mercy? A dream of avarice,
A conscious rejection of learning,
Reduced to faith.

My most fervent wish,
And certainly an affront to God,
Is that there could be, for us,
A God that answered prayer,
That rewarded goodness,
A God of mercy, aware
Of human suffering,
A God like me,
That would enable a more peaceful world,
That would reward
Forbearance and empathy,
And welcome us fondly
When our work was done.

January 21, 2009, with genuine longing