God, A Poem Poem by James Fenton1

God, A Poem

Rating: 3.6


A nasty surprise in a sandwich,
A drawing-pin caught in your sock,
The limpest of shakes from a hand which
You'd thought would be firm as a rock,

A serious mistake in a nightie,
A grave disappointment all round
Is all that you'll get from th'Almighty,
Is all that you'll get underground.

Oh he said: 'If you lay off the crumpet
I'll see you alright in the end.
Just hang on until the last trumpet.
Have faith in me, chum-I'm your friend.'

But if you remind him, he'll tell you:
'I'm sorry, I must have been pissed-
Though your name rings a sort of a bell. You
Should have guessed that I do not exist.

'I didn't exist at Creation,
I didn't exist at the Flood,
And I won't be around for Salvation
To sort out the sheep from the cud-

'Or whatever the phrase is. The fact is
In soteriological terms
I'm a crude existential malpractice
And you are a diet of worms.

'You're a nasty surprise in a sandwich.
You're a drawing-pin caught in my sock.
You're the limpest of shakes from a hand which
I'd have thought would be firm as a rock,

'You're a serious mistake in a nightie,
You're a grave disappointment all round-
That's all you are, ' says th'Almighty,
'And that's all that you'll be underground.'

1983

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Peter Legur 10 February 2007

Painful reminder that whatever we attribute to God, plus or minus, is our own feeble projection that will come back to haunt us. He is great or nothing, we are nothing but desperate posing.

8 2 Reply
awsome 12 April 2018

Love God the creater. How amazing. If not for him be would not be alive.

1 0 Reply
Sinhle beverly makhubele 25 February 2018

God is our creater

4 0 Reply
awsome 12 April 2018

true, you are right

0 0
Walterrean Salley 16 November 2016

(God, A Poem - Poem by James Fenton.) A grim piece of writing. May God forgive us all.

5 0 Reply
Bill (William) Phillips 14 April 2012

Love it! I can almost hear his one time friend, Christopher Hitchens reciting it, with that characteristic dropp in pitch and amplitude at end of phrase.

10 3 Reply
Adriana Veloso 11 January 2009

good writing...i agree totally

7 3 Reply
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