Sometimes I Want Jehovah


Sometimes I need God the Mother
     to fold her arms around starving Somalian babies.
Sometimes I need God the Healer
     to touch, with invisible hands, the hurts physicians cannot find.
Sometimes I need God the Gardener
     to bring again the fertility of spring
          into this human-battered creation.
Sometimes I need God the Light
     to shine searing truth into the darkened corners where lies live.
Sometimes I need God the Shepherd
     to leave the 99 to chase that one self-imprisoned soul.

 But sometimes I want Jehovah:
     to send death the unprotected first born.
     to turn the river into blood.
     to open the earth and swallow up sinners.
 Sometimes I want the god:
     who demands obedience and punishes rebels.
     who kills anyone who dares touch the holy ark.
     who sends the people to kill all with breath,
          leaving not even one stone atop another.
 Sometimes I want this god:
     to exact vengeance on those whom I choose.
     to bring the justice I decide.
 Sometimes I want Jehovah.
 And sometimes I fear that I'll get what I want.
Copyright � 1996 Ian Lynch. All rights reserved