U is for Unequivocal...and Untermeyer

Untermeyer, Louis (1885-1977)

Louis Untermeyer was an American poet, editor, anthologist and critic. He was known for his wit and love of puns. However, he was also controversial for his apparent flirtation with Marxism in the fifties, and was blacklisted by the television industry when one of the programmes he appeared in was picketed.  His edited anthologies are widely read by students.  My prompt for today is his poem Prayer.

Parent, Intervene NOW!

The thing is I never felt the need

to clasp my hands and bend my knee

in the manner that priests decreed:

if You are there, You’ll let me be;

and if You’re not, then what’s the use

to make a show of beads and bells?

it doesn’t matter – win or lose;

the playing counts, and nothing else.

Life is unfair, and faith or verse

can be a blade to slice it fine.

Who’s to say what’s better or worse -

an ancient hymn or faithless line?

I really have no argument

with those who ply conch and incense;

You'll know if You're omniscient,

empty rituals make no sense.

If You’re there, You know my heart

and all of its well kept secrets:

its yearnings for beauty; where its scarred,

where it’s home and where it frets;

and how it wants to play the game,

and when it wants to play truant.

Why should I have to chant Your name

and spell out loud what I might want?

If I’m Your child, then what parent

would want me to cringe and submit?

Pray, light a flame and complement

with fearfulness, and that is it?

I’d rather You did not exist

than believe You’re petty and mean,

and crush us with such steely fists

of hollow ritual and routine.

Where is Your justice and Your grace?

Your children burn each other alive,

torture in unspeakable ways,

Why do You let such evil thrive?

You turn Your face, shut Your three eyes

because the evil doers profess

a different path, and paradise;

But they’re Your offspring nonetheless.

A human parent’s limited view,

small love and fairness still compel

her to act without further ado

anytime her children quarrel.

Yet You of monumental Love

let Your children annihilate

each other without one shred of

regret at this quadrille of hate.

Excuse me if I can’t believe

in a Parent who’s this unmoved;

never stops the wars, nor weeps nor grieves.

I’d rather doubt. And I disapprove.

Back where I come from, since the Charlie Hebdo attacks, there has been much discussion regarding freedom of expression.  An Indian author has been forced to retract his words because he depicted certain religious rites which were perceived as negative, although the rites are a historical fact. A few years ago, a well known artist was forced into exile because he depicted certain deities in the nude. Do you think editors/writers/artists should temper freedom with responsibility and discretion? Or should they be free to write/paint as they please and ignore the possible consequences?  

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2015