Faith Poem by Lyrael Myrna

Monotone voices carry throughout the church
The People who say they are “believers”
Fulfillers of the faith-
Sound like they would rather be out shopping
Or are at least having a mind battle on whether they
Have everything ready for the day
When they come to say the creed
An affirmation of belief
They sound asleep, dormant, uninterested
Struggling to whisper a word
It’s more like a drone
A string of words dragged together
Into a 'beatless- rythm'
And it makes me wonder
Especially at Christmas
Whilst listening to the mournful hymns
Carry out from the wooden choir
You sit for a moment…
Why on Earth were you dragged out?
To such a supposedly joyous occasion
That doesn’t even seem so joyous.
The world seems to have lost its meaning
It’s definition of life
It’s Spirit
It only matters how much money
We are earning
And the clothes we are wearing
On our backs
Never mind those who don’t earn anything
And have hardly anything to wear
Some can not help it
They were born that way
We were all born that way
Naked and hungry
As I’m standing at the checkout
Serving customers on Christmas Eve
It gradually becomes monotonous but clearer
As the busy shoppers define my feelings
Over and over again
I hear all of them saying they hope that their
Cards will clear on the Eftpos machine
Having a war with themselves
Wondering whether they had
The right type of Brandy Custard
And it astonishes me when
I come to serve a girl about seven
She has three teddy bears
And has very little money
In her coin purse
She says that her friends little brothers
Are all very ill
All very sad
And that the bears will surely make them better
Because smiles cure everything
She tells me that it’s not fair
That she should be happy
When they’re not

And it hits me hard
It makes me realize
That I, like many other “grown ups”
Once had this sincere emotion

The billionaires rolling in their money
Lost their emotions long ago
They were devoured by paper
And gold
They don’t know any different
It is one thing to be rich
And give
And another to be rich
And not give anything at all

So this all relates to Church again
Why do so many people choose to keep their faith?
When they’re not willing to celebrate and step out
Into the light for once
You don’t have to believe in the God they tell you to
God is just a metaphor of comfort and reliance
You don’t have to go to church every week
To be a true Christian
We all have this metaphor
Because when we’re alone
Especially at Christmas
It helps
To have your own little metaphoric belief
To give just a little
To feel just a little
And receive just a little

It is one thing to have a faith
And believe
Than not believe in anything
At all

But then again
Life
Is Just a contradiction