Religion

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



I AM no priest of crooks nor creeds,
For human wants and human needs
Are more to me than prophets' deeds;
And human tears and human cares
Affect me more than human prayers.
Go, cease your wail, lugubrious saint!
You fret high Heaven with your plaint.
Is this the 'Christian's joy' you paint?
Is this the Christian's boasted bliss?
Avails your faith no more than this?
Take up your arms, come out with me,
Let Heav'n alone; humanity
Needs more and Heaven less from thee.
With pity for mankind look 'round;
Help them to rise — and Heaven is found.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
56

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAABBCCCDDEEEFF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 541
Words 102
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 15

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life one poem in the collection being Ode to Ethiopia more…

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    "Religion" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/28842/religion>.

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