I don’t understand
I don’t understand the reason
I watch and listen
I’m confused by people
As they stand up straight
In front of the cross
And mouth the words
Of the hymnal and still insist
This is a Christian nation
And I am left in a state
Of wondering in that way
That I frequently find
That leads me to question.
Does Christ’s teaching
Mean absolutely nothing?
Or have no significance at all?
For the self-professed Christian
When they declare that war
Is necessary and can’t be avoided
Even when warmongers are born again
I shouldn’t be surprised or confused.
It was another war in another time
And I remember listening then
To the same rationale
The need to defend ourselves
From a threat by a nation so poor
It couldn’t feed itself let alone
Pay for bullets, bombs and planes.
And I watched that older generation
Mouth the same words, the same
Hymns insisting the need for war
As they raised themselves from prayer
And moved their lips to the “Our father”.
It was enough to set me walking
From the stalls of the choir
And turn my back on the mouthing
Of words without grace or meaning
I’ll say it again I’m confused by people
But perhaps the blame lies with me
For this perpetual confusion
Maybe I expect too much of others.
And as Billie that crooked boned
Hedge layer once said “You know
People never change” with an absence
Of a critical tone but he looked at me
Hard all the same, holding my eyes
To see whether I’d heard his meaning.
From the poetry collection “Time to Heal”.
RAC.
