Substantial

• Artist: Gravetye
• Description: A poem questioning traditional religion and blind faith. I'm a Christian, but I think that if you never question anything, then you really don't believe what you claim to believe. It just becomes a lot of talk, then. But maybe that's just me.
• Date: 02/15/2009
• Tags: substantial religion christianity faith belief

Substantial

There is a breathless waiting
To our living here with
A sort of disquiet in
Our everyday beliefs.
We want to know everything
About anything there
Is to know, because waiting
Is so overrated.
It’s like a migraine. It aches,
This lack of concrete fact.
We wonder how they survived
On a diet of words
And no action. Just their faith
And strained wishful thinking.
We want so much more than that.
Religion feeds the soul
In theory, but we desire
Something more than ancient
Texts full of ancient commands.
We want to see and feel,
Breathe a God into our lungs,
Need to touch to believe—
Thomas reincarnated.
Is it so wrong to need
Reassurance of our faith?
That is what they tell us.
But faith is a fragile thing,
A pretty bauble to
Wrap and package carefully
And place on the high shelf
Of our sophisticated minds.

Comments

[TheFlawedPerfectionist]

very well written, but i have to disagree with your viewpoint. I myself am a christian, and i strongly believe what the bible says. sorry if i ave offended u, its just my opinion.

[tiakat333]

i completely agree with nihill - these days, we need to OWN things to believe they exist. you said it yourself with your line "Need to touch to believe". i like this poem - it talks about something real. such a controversial topic too. i disagree with both sides (the side that believes everything is god's will, and the side that thinks religion causes all the world's problems). but it's all opinion, because there really isn't anything substantial to base things off of.
VERY well written. 5/5

[Devi D_16]

loverly I agree as well. Which is why I can't believe in really anything...

[mythological irony]

I like it!

"...Breathe a God into our lungs..." That's my favorite line. Yay!

[Nihill]

I agree with your view on beliefs as stated in the description here, and I think a lot of the problem people have with it (particularly my fellow Americans) is that everything is so personal, anymore; they have to own things personally and you can't do that with religion. There's nothing to hold onto, per se. But I digress. I enjoy this poem, particularly the lines about surviving on a diet of words. Nice imagery for to reinforce the substancial...ness.