'My God' Poem by Trevor Valentine

'My God'
by Valentine

My god
Lives inside
Within me
And yes,
So does my devil
Unfortunately

But my god will prevail
Because he is good
And without vice or sin
And, it is these both
Which ultimately
Will help the other
His nemesis
Dig his own premature pit
And he will be buried
Forgotten
Well, almost

And it may be
That my god
Is the same
As your God
Because he embraces
Goodness
In whatever form

He is not vain
And I believe your God
Is much the same
So they may be friends
Already

That either God
Can seem to allow
Great hurt
Or great pain
Is sometimes perplexing
But, I think I now understand

We are blessed with life
For however long
For however short
Under whatever strain
In whatever form
Transient sometimes
And he is our friend
He is there to support

And if I am right
This same God
Lives within you too

So, as my friend
Our Gods may then join
And we are both stronger
And we share the pain
And the joy
Together

And this joining
This union
Is the beginning
Of something
Much bigger
We may call it
Religion
And this is good
And strong
And collective
And embracing

At least most times

For when it does not
Embrace
Or would inflict power upon
Or would suppress
Other brother
Or sister
Or cousin faiths
Or even those
Who would choose
What you might call
Rejection
This causes harm
And is not
What my god
In his peace
Intended

He gave me
This form
This frame
To live
To create
To perpetuate
And yet
He also gave me
An inner frame
An inner voice
An inner mind
Which lives within

Is it Him
Or Her
It does not matter

It is a voice
A conscious thinking
A spark of life
And it is always there
And it always speaks to me
A comfort
A support

That he gave me
And you
This life
This opportunity
I am grateful
And always will be

Eternally