Meditation on Psalm 116

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On Psalms
113-118

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Copyright by
Nicholas Gordon

I would not beg for light except in darkness,
Or plead for pity but in piercing pain.
Happy, well-fed, housed, with ample savings,
And death a still far-distant destination,
I put my faith in medicine and music,
Quite capable of standing on my own.

I look at those of faith as grownup children
Clinging to their parent in the sky,
Believing fairy tales so fantastic
I cannot quite believe in their belief.
Nor can I see myself ever believing
That at the core of being there is you.

Truth, like beauty, must be free of interest,
Purely for its own sake, uncorrupted
By need, desire, even desperation.
Yet were I broken on the rack of life,
And in such pain I longed alone for death,
I know well where in torment I would turn.

Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.

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