I cannot believe
in a God of the Few
Condemning the souls of the Many
My reason insists
That this cannot be true
For His love is eternal in plenty
Hate is the ruse
Of the faithless man
Believing himself undeserving
And holding below him
The countless souls
With faith neither strong nor unswerving
But I hold before me
Compassionate God
Amused at my fumblings apparent
Loving and kind
In the tenderest way
Forgiving me when I am errant
For all His creation
Must something destroy
Destruction can be a thing grand
Consider volcanoes
Destroying themselves
In process creating new land
My soul is consumed
With the fires of love
Which leaves my heart painful and raw
Yet as the ash settles
And soon falls away
What's left is the love of God's law
God's law can be summed up
In one single word
And Love is the word that is meant
His law is but Love
In its purest form
The Original Element
I cannot believe
There is only one way
To honor and worship God
If that were the truth
We would all be the same
And this world unspeakably odd
But God in His wisdom
Made each one unique
Both in how we view Him above
And in our great challenge
That noblest of quests
Creating yet new ways to Love.
1999
This poem has appeared before in print and online in Stash Magazine, of St. Petersburg, Florida, which is now defunct.
It also appeared online on the website of www.Deist.com, also based out of the Tampa Bay area, which was devoted to the furthering of Deism, which is a non-denominational belief in God through reason; the website now belongs to an unrelated business which has nothing to do with religion or philosophy.