Today at dVerse Poets Pub, Claudia has challenged us to write a poem about borders – either physical borders between countries or states or intangible borders between cultures or beliefs. As I read her wonderful article about borders, I immediately thought of the border between Christians and atheists. I decided to try my hand at putting my thoughts on this subject into poetic form.
In years past, the border between these groups was largely ignored as they largely ignored each other. But in recent years they have both approached the border and a clash between faith combined with reason and reason without faith has become almost impossible to avoid. I have crossed the border once or twice to engage in conversation with atheists in my life. I find they often refuse to see their own bias in their reasoning, a bias towards the non-existence of God. The conversations seldom seem fruitful or useful, and so I have retreated to my side of the border, choosing to cross the border only in prayer.
I decided to write this poem in the pantoum form that I learned from one of the contributors at dVerse Poets Pub. This is my third pantoum, and I find I really like this form. I particularly like how it ends where it starts.
At the Border
At the border, leaning on this tree
Seeing blind fools on the other side
They cannot see what I clearly see
The invisible God our great divide
Seeing blind fools on the other side
What an unthinking fool they think I be
The invisible God our great divide
They scoff at faith, my reason and reality
What an unthinking fool they think I be
But I know I understand the truth
They scoff at faith, my reason and reality
God plainly revealed to me since my youth
But I know I understand the truth
All life evolved from nothingness?
God plainly revealed to me since youth
He created all life, I must profess
All life evolved from nothingness?
They cannot see what I clearly see
He created all life, I must profess
At the border, praying beneath this tree