Some keep the Sabbath going to
Church – I keep it, Staying Home²
Creator, thou’rt Feebler than thy Work –
Creator, thou’rt Sadder than thy Creature³
The Ivory Gods, the Ebony Gods, and the
Gods of Diamond & Jade, sit Silently on the
Temple Shelves while the people are Afraid,
Yet the Ivory Gods and the Ebony Gods and
The Gods of Diamond & Jade, are only Silly
Puppet Gods that people themselves have made⁴
The Sky seems like a Useless place for God to Live⁵
Let Ruling Angels from their Spheres be Hurl’d,
Being on Being Wreck’d, and World on World⁶
Burst like a Ruthless Force, into the Solemn
Church – and Scatter the Congregation⁷
No Bearded Deity earns my Reverence,
No King of Heaven gets my Patronage⁸
Earth Rejects Communication
With God’s Autocratic station⁹
I have No Religion except
My own Task of Being¹⁰
¹ Regina Spektor, Genius Next Door
² Emily Dickinson, Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church
³ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Seraphim
⁴ Langston Hughes, Gods
⁵ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Birthday of the World
⁶ Alexander Pope, Epistle 1
⁷ Walt Whitman, Beat! Beat! Drums!
⁸ Laura Hershey, Faith
⁹ Sylvia Plath, Insolent Storm Strikes at the Skull
¹⁰ Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince