POEM "About God"

[daviddonihue]

Official Poetry Video

About God

By David N. Donihue

 

Respected for his inventions

Feared in response to his documents

Loved in response to a hatred of the world

Denied in response to a hatred of the world

 

Praised so the vocalist may trust in 

something other than himself

Spited so the scribe can believe 

nothing is stronger than he

Sought after for emotional stability

Blamed for the actions of the emotionally unstable

Tested by those too fearful to measure 

themselves

 

Advocated by those looking to 

rebrand themselves with someone else’s purity

Desired by all in the heart 

yet admitted to by just a fraction

 

His hands stretch down through empty skies

Touching those who allow it

Caressing those who refuse 

to be made fools of by feeling it

And as his fingertips tingle with 

yearning for those who He created

He screams when we feel pain

He smiles when we feel pleasure

He feels love when we receive him

And we feel at home, when we allow 

Him to receive us

 

I have felt his arms late at night

I have felt his breath in the morning

His presence can be felt amongst 

the rumblings of man

It moves through like molecules on 

a mission

 

Like energy thrashing the air

And as you stand in the valley 

of the shadow of depth

You see nothing but evil

You feel nothing but reactions

But then as you turn away 

from the analysis of the 

maddened room

 

And stop battling the misprojected 

frustrations of the men who expect 

the world to be as pure as He who

created it

 

And mindlessly turn from their 

screeching and your reactions

And just feel his breath

His presence

 

The lack of words are the 

wisest ones you will ever hear

And the emotion that runs tandem, 

is reason enough to love in return

 

©opyright 2023 David N Donihue All Rights Reserved

[David W. Parsley]

I really identify with the nicely turned image of God's Presence that "move(s) like molecules on. / a mission."  If you have experienced it, you immediately recognize in that description the sensation that transforms, the "reason enough to love" and a knowledge that one is simply returning a measure of it.

This poem would certainly benefit from extensive crafting IMHO.  But I found resonance in this description of encountering a Personal God.

Thanks,

- David

[Assaf1981]

8 hours ago, David W. Parsley said:

I really identify with the nicely turned image of God's Presence that "move like molecules on / a mission."  If you have experienced it, you immediately recognize in that description the sensation that transforms, the "reason enough to love" and the knowledge that are simply returning a measure of it. 

This poem would certainly benefit from extensive crafting IMHO.  But I found resonance in this description of encountering a Personal God.

Thank You,
 - Dave

Are you a christian?

[David W. Parsley]

Hi Assaf, we as poets seek to engage with and capture, however fleetingly, the essence of existence and its mysteries.  Though I am a Christian, I do not think encounters with the Divine are uniquely relegated to people of my faith.  It is probably a universal experience and one of the most profound interactions that define our common humanity.  Unlike physical interactions, it is most commonly intangible, not susceptible to examination under microscope or titration in an Erlenmeyer flask. 

Even for poetry, attaining strands of the ineffable is most successfully accomplished when accompanied by deft inclusions of the tangible world.  (See Barry's "she" for a recent example on PMO.)  So here the physical image of incomprehensibly organized particles streaming through one's consciousness evokes our most transcendent experiences.  Christ himself said it this way: "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Once again, appealing to a commonly apprehended phenomenon in the physical world; yet one's inner self is inexplicably quickened.

Cheers,
 - Dave