Monotheism
The Last Lunacy?
The Last Lunacy?
Who tends
the graves of vanquished gods,
Or fears their ancient powers?
Who carves the dates of their defeat,
Or wreaths their tombs with flowers?
So many deities are dead.
Or fears their ancient powers?
Who carves the dates of their defeat,
Or wreaths their tombs with flowers?
So many deities are dead.
Destroyed by
our ungrateful hands
Their proud, yet graven images
Decaying in harsh desert lands.
Their proud, yet graven images
Decaying in harsh desert lands.
Each mythic
deity displaced,
Once had
legions bend the knee
And Vikings prayed that gods would bless
Their raids across a troubled sea.
And Vikings prayed that gods would bless
Their raids across a troubled sea.
As
one-by-one each god was slain
By converts
to the books of death
We lost the
chance to grow and bloom
Untroubled
by the Devil’s breath.
Still three remain,
the worst of all,
Their cruel
demands so widely taught,
Promising eternal fire
For the sin of reasoned thought.
Promising eternal fire
For the sin of reasoned thought.
What monster
must we now create
To slay
these gods of tyranny
Allowing us to dwell in peace
Free from their fearful trinity?
Allowing us to dwell in peace
Free from their fearful trinity?
© James Rainsford
2012
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I'll respond to all who visit here and leave a comment.
its like Highlander, there can be only one....i like your question in that what monster must we create to vanquish the gods we have now...and in all likelihood we will make a monster of one of the ones already in existence...
ReplyDeleteCurious, Brian, if you are still following. Does your comment translate to something like this:
Delete"There is only one God, and unfortunately some people make a monster out of him but he is the true, loving god. It is good that the false ones are vanquished."
ReplyDeleteWow, I loved this. A requiem to the many deceased gods.
But a few questions/comments (if you were to revise this):
(1) I don't understand the stanza starting "As one-by-one.." I get the first line, of course, but not the rest. While up to then, the poem was very clear to me.
(2) Was "craven" chosen intentionally instead of "graven (carved)?
(3) Many more than 3 gods remain -- maybe only 3 monotheistic gods but even that is not true, I think. And the gods you speak of earlier in the poem are not monotheistic.
I really like the poem and the conclusion with the last two stanzas.
So, here are my suggestions (and as you know I am no poet) to offer if you do revision.
Call the poem something like "Death of the Gods"... instead of "Monotheism". And maybe the line "Still three remain" could be something like "The three big ones that remain" or something like that but put better than I can.
Again, nice to see a bold poem.
Oh, no comments yet -- I am the first. Hope you don't mind the length of the comment or the suggestions/thoughts.
Thanks for your comments Sabio. Much appreciated. 'Typo' corrected thanks.
Deleteyou are welcome -- for what they are worth.
DeleteThis is thought-provoking, James.
ReplyDeleteGreat write !
ReplyDeleteSeems there's some confusion here regarding my intended meaning. To help clarify my views I've added a sub-title, which I hope makes things clearer.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious if that clears things up. How will you find out?
DeletePerhaps I never will, but I'm quite content not to know. ;-)
DeleteIf only we could see that it is man who created religion. There must be a prime creator, something created the original, something and yet, why do we feel such a need to fight and to kill whomever disagrees with our thoughts on it, and yes, you are right, even c-called Christians have killed hundreds of thousands who didn't believe in their version of God.
ReplyDeleteI so agree with you on of of this and think this is an excellent poem and example of man's endless bigotry, intolerance and, stupidity.