poem inspired by Mark Strand's The History of Poetry

The History of Religion

by Florence Lumsden

God is at work bringing us light, earth and soul
Like pulling a hat out of a rabbit
His creations are natural and amazing
While trees burst from tiny seedlings
He sits upon a cloud admiring his genius
His hands are dirty and wrinkled
He eats truffles on sunny days
He drinks wine upon star filled skies
 And all the time he is our holy guardian angle
Uplifting us to the righteousness and ways of the bible
His story has been scribbled upon the rocks of ancient times
And passes without a single mistake from generation to generation.
He is the ideal and perfect that we must please
And while he was busy he forgot his duties
He looked a way from us for only one second and
When he looked back upon the earth
The people were fighting over what god was
What god said
What god meant
Judaism, Catholics, Muslims, all believe in god
But do not believe in each other
What a shame
god is a joke, a failure and anything from perfect.
But when we pray at night
Why are we rapped in a blanket
And given the strength to be