The Shine Journal

 

Love Everlasting (A Theodicy)

 

by

 

Bill Moore

 

 

 

 

The only thing worth living for is love,

Poets and philosophers agree

We must not waste time looking for help from above,

Only our hearts can set us free

 

We waste so much time

Searching for answers that may not even exist—

But the heart is the only lifeline,

Though this truth we often resist

 

Many look to the skies for truth,

Many look to The Bible—

But life gives ample proof

That love is the only engine of survival

 

An open heart is the only pathway

To peace and contentment on earth—

A celestial stairway will rot and decay,

Love is the only thing of any real worth

 

Many plea and petition God,

But he never replies

Let us end this practice, so odd,

And look to where the answer truly lies

 

We waste so much of our lives hoping in vain

For help from gods that will never come

When we could be ending our earthly pain—

Let us end this fruitless search, so vacant and numb

 

We kill and fill our hearts with hate

Fighting for gods we have made—

Carrying on blindly, as if chained to fate,

We overlooked love in the plans we laid

 

We live and die—

Of this only we are certain,

Though we know not why;

We must find a reason to live, before they close the curtain

 

We eat and drink,

Carrying on this seemingly meaningless life

We feel and think,

Pausing for breath in the tempestuous strife

 

We know not why we are here,

And we know not what, if anything, is coming

This world gives us little cheer,

And it may all amount to nothing—

 

But we just cannot accept that we live and toil in vain,

That we are victims of some colossal fraud

All this disappointment, sorrow, and pain—

Surely there is a reason behind them, or some kind of god

 

We may never find all the answers we strive for,

We may never finish all we set out to do—

But I know, as sure as I am alive, or more,

We have to find some way to make it through

 

Some hide away current sorrow

And look toward the afterlife—

Put all hopes and dreams in tomorrow

As a way to deal with everyday strife

 

Some misguidedly look to heaven

And accept all present woes—

In the end, they think, the odds get even,

And only in vain would we start earthly shows—

 

But we live wrongly when we live this way,

For this existence may be all there is

How can we place all our hopes in some mystical, future day

When there may be nothing else after this?

 

This is no easy answer, for life is hard,

And we would like to believe there is more—

There may be, but perhaps all our cards

Have marked for us is this one lonely door

 

We must find something, then,

To get us through this, whatever it may be—

We can let a god in,

Or look to you and me

 

The gods are never there for us on earth

And may not be there in the end—

This lonely, desolate place of our birth

May be the only thing on which we can depend—

 

But love can build a sanctuary in our hearts,

A safe haven from the world’s pain and woe

Though imperfect, it is a start,

A place we can always go

 

Love is the only real thing available to us,

The only thing on which we can depend

Some reserve for God all their trust,

But love is the only thing left in the end

 

We must live for love; there is nothing else,

No help coming from above

It is with you and me as with everyone else—

The only thing worth living for is love

 

Love is the only answer to the game we have played;

Oh, my love! We have so little time here—

In love our foundations are laid,

In love we disappear

 

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My Bio: I am a freelance writer/editor living in Durant, OK with  my wife Jade. I have an English degree from Southeastern Oklahoma  State University. I'm working on a critical Bob Dylan  book and looking for a publisher for a poetry book.
 

My Motivation :The necessity of choosing love over religion.

Photo by :Charlotte Na