How Can You Pray… Poem by Margaret Alice

How can you pray
to a God when you surmise
there is no high authority
necessary?

I pray to a Loving Consciousness,
the Energy that permeates us
loves and accepts us
unconditionally

How can you ask
for forgiveness of sins
if you don’t believe
in original sin?

I pray for forgiveness
of the sin of omission
committed against my father
when I was young

Based on hearsay,
a false idea of morality
as refinement - leading to
my refusal

To acknowledge
my father’s presence -
today this negativity
boomerangs on me

Sucking heart and mind
into despair: How to honour
his legacy, all his attempts
to care for us

And all the love
that led him to serve
his sons and a wife
who left him in disgust

After taunting, challenging
and opposing him in everything
never accepting
the sacrifices

Of a person abused
in his youth -
to satisfy their
every whim!