CARRY ON TUESDAY
The words in blue are the first words of 'The War of the Worlds' by H.G.Wells:
'No one would have believed........'
THE MISSED CHANCE
What would the world be like, I wonder,
If 'Belief' had just never been.
If no one had ever dreamed-up 'the gods',
Imagining the unseen.
If early man had accepted that life
Was what he could touch and see;
That the sky was empty, except for stars,
And a tree was just a tree?
Why did he need to imagine
A 'Being' in control,
Why did he complicate this life
With 'Eternity' and 'Soul'?
The world we have is a marvel,
Its beauty such perfection;
Surely there was no need to yearn
In quite another direction!
But what would the world be like, I wonder,
Had 'Heaven' never 'appeared',
If humans had never created
A Being to be feared?
Would we be so very different?
Would wars still rage unrestrained?
Would the glorious green of our planet
Still be ravaged and blood-stained?
Or would mankind have prospered
Accepting the here and now,
Not stopping every so often
To genuflect or bow?
An age of simple acceptance
Can never now be retrieved.
But I yearn for a world untrammelled,
Before mankind 'believed'.
*
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(An Acrostic)
Usual things are friendly
So they don't seem a threat.
Unusual things give us a shock
And make us jump and sweat.
Loud bangs in the middle of the night
Cause us to wake-up in a fright!
*
4 comments:
A challenging poem about belief! I guess belief should be all about lifting the spirit and inspiring postive action, but, like many ideas, the positive can be smudged with greed!
I too adore anything Leunig!
You ask a vital question in your poem about belief. I can only agree whole-heartedly with your precept and thank you for sharing this thought-provoking piece.
I'm always amazed at how you can get such content into your poems ... I so enjoy reading them!
Very interesting poem. Liked it lot :-)
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