The best place to think about things is in a cafe. Although I’m having to cut back on my all too frequent pit-stops because of the cost – everything is more expensive nowadays – and my expanding waistline. Despite that I stopped a few days ago for a cuppa. And I jotted this poem down.
Come on God So, come on God where are you? Reveal yourself as I sit here, in this café chomping cold tea and sticky toffee softness. You’ll say you wear the faces of the people and the kids I see – you’re already here you’ll say in the mother with the stripy top and the old woman rushing to the toilets and the redhead in her sleeveless anorak and the men with walkers particularly the one whose face has lost its life. You’ll say it’s in reaching out to these people that I’ll find you. So, come on God, show me again how suffering should be done how it’s not so bad when the café is full of others trying to keep a tight hold on life, like me, despite everything.
interesting perspective! ive heard an argument in terms of religion, monotheistic ones specifically, where people question a divine omnipresence in the midst of suffering, that its the idea of uprooting weeds. sometimes the weeds are so wrapped up in the plant, so scattered in the grass, that trying to kill it could kill innocents as well. just like war. its never so easy all things being okay, because the root of someone’s suffering is not the moment you saw them in the coffee shop. the point is to help them, not kill them in the process.
i think what most people are really upset with is the whole political system that we’ve been trying to convince ourselves to live under, sovereignty and the state’s “monopoly on violence.” we’ve created the idea that people should have rights to own land on which other people live (since just owning them directly is now a no-go), instead of just living together peacefully. the consequences are what they are.
that being said, there is no religion that promises a problem free life, just new perspective. its a really good poem despite, because it highlights the oxymoron of peace in suffering, with beautiful imagery. and its well written, thanks for sharing
Thanks for the great and thoughtful comment – and thanks for the feedback on the poem 🙂