Faith

 I need a faith

I need a faith that frees me from the jail

Of an old tradition left in the fridge

Long past it’s sell by date and lacking

Warmth and life and relevance. 

In its place have followed well meaning

Theories but often contradictory

Our innate call to song and solidarity

Is answered by a music new and popular. 

A long way we have come along a road

To less prejudice and clear equality

But what to make of life and death

And all before and all that follows?

What to make of human anguish

How to understand the hand of death

How to reconcile the baby’s smile

And the dying man’s last breath. 

It is perhaps a faith of hope

That sees meaning in the universe 

And kindness in the smallest things

To jump untethered into outer space. 

To bid goodbye to our planet blue

And turn our face to infinity

At the farthest end of the galaxy

Are we alone or do we reside in You?