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A Message to an Atheist

Don’t shock me with your atheistic tripe.
God gave us all a book that proves his presence
And serves us as a guide for all we do —
excepting parts that don’t make sense today.
 
God serves us like a good psychologist:
He listens hard and never interrupts,
Nor gets us all confused with silly answers.
Tough love his constant motto, he will let
my personal agony reveal to me
where I have I erred; and if I do good deeds,
he’s kind to me immediately– or later.  
 
And if he doesn’t grant a wish I make,
I know he’s done it for my own welfare.
And if I do an evil act he’ll often
Be kind enough to let me off the hook;
but if he doesn’t, if my child is raped
or slowly burned to death within her crib,
it’ll be because I, not the child, need  punishment.
 
But He has always been most kind to me:
On 9/11my workplace was destroyed,
And I the lone survivor. How I thanked
Him while I gathered parts of other people.
 
In all our wars he helps us if we win,
And if we don’t, he’s taught another lesson.
A hundred thousand died on Asian soil
to demonstrate the error of our ways.
 
God’s ways are often hard to understand,
But everything’s made clear when you recall
The statement that He works mysteriously
His wonders to perform. And that explains
Why bad things often happen to good people,
And good things to the gangsters we find bad,
 
And if he kills you all with flood or worse,
I’ll be safe because I wrote this verse.

(2000)

#FreeIronic

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