'It shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine.' - MICAH, III 6 I ASKED the Lord: 'Sire, is this true Which hosts of theologians hold, That when we creatures censure you For shaping griefs and ails untold (Deeming them punishments undue) You rage, as Moses wrote of old? When we exclaim: "Beneficent He is not, for he orders pain, Or, if so, not omnipotent: To a mere child the thing is plain!" Those who profess to represent You, cry out: "Impious and profane!"' He: 'Save me from my friends, who deem That I care what my creatures say! Mouth as you list: sneer, rail, blaspheme, O manikin, the livelong day, Not one grief-groan or pleasure-gleam Will you increase or take away. 'Why things are thus, whoso derides, May well remain my secret still.... A fourth dimension, say the guides, To matter is conceivable. Think some such mystery resides Within the ethic of my will.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NEW ENGLAND'S DEAD! by ISAAC MCLELLAN JR. THE TRIUMPH OF MELANCHOLY by JAMES BEATTIE UNDER THE PINES by ARTHUR STANLEY BOURINOT MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE EAVES by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH TO THE APENNINES by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT MY UPPER SHELVES by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |