The Path That Is Right - POEM

There was once a religious man

Who felt that he needed to force

His unfounded views upon anyone else

Each and every morning, he would

Preach to me, about his rebirth

I couldn’t be convinced

Nor could I be coerced

Into believing his strange doctrine

He had killed men,

At least, he said he had,

And had stolen from others

He was a member of a gang

Spent time in jail

Then he turned over a new leaf,

Like the flip of a coin

Found a loving wife

And got an honest job

Each day, he’d dedicate hours

To praying and worshipping

His beloved saviour

Now, whilst I am in favour

Of forgiveness and atonement

It concerns me and

Makes me wonder

Why he had to commit

Such atrocities and heinous crimes

Before realising it was wrong

And then dedicating himself

To a person who has not presented

Any real evidence that he exists, or existed,

It’s not even about the book,

The Good Book,

I respect every word written therein

But don’t try to tell me

That you can abide by every one of those words

In unwavering literary sense

Nor is it about the man

Jesus, the Nazarene,

That it speaks of,

For him, I respect too,

And the message he brought

But is about the people, confused,

Who cling to this mythos

This dogma,

This ideal,

That if you do nothing

But have faith

Success will land in your lap

If you sin,

And that is a very vague concept,

Just go crazy,

Because you’ll be forgiven

So long as you devote yourself

Whole-heartedly

To Jesus, at some point

In your life that was

Up till then, meaningless

It matters not that

You had an identity

Of your own

Before you realised

The error of your ways

The immorality and pure evil

Of your former endeavours

What was necessary for you to realise

All this?

A vision of God, or Jesus, or Mary,

Compelling you to awaken

Or was it simply

Self-restraint;

The knowledge of what

Is right and wrong,

And having said that,

The ability to choose

A path that is right

I could be wrong

And that’s the joy

Of being human,

We can make mistakes

And we will

In time we’ll learn from them

For that is our nature

We create the problems

Then we run to our wonderful

Saviour, all out of options,

“Oh, wait...there’s God”

“He’ll forgive me..”

And you tell yourself

That he has done so

That you’ve reserved a seat

Past the pearly gates

Because you’ve atoned

For your former

tawdry existence

But for the meantime

You’re still here, on Earth

Our very own version

Of parallel Hell

And the very religious man

Asks me for a cigarette

Shortly after preaching

The effects of ‘sin’ on one’s body

I look on this man, shrug,

And give him a cigarette,

And behold,

The effects of ‘sin’ on one’s mind

The effects of believing

In something that is truly

Impossible to adhere to

In the meantime, with due respect,

I say, “Use those innate things,

That we all possess,

Common sense

And self-restraint;

Know what is right and wrong

And choose the path

That is right.”

© Dean R Boic 2016 (image courtesy of hd4desktop.pw)