A man went before a strange God

Stephen Crane 1871 – 1900



A man went before a strange God --
The God of many men, sadly wise.
And the deity thundered loudly,
Fat with rage, and puffing.
"Kneel, mortal, and cringe
And grovel and do homage
To My Particularly Sublime Majesty."

The man fled.

Then the man went to another God --
The God of his inner thoughts.
And this one looked at him
With soft eyes
Lit with infinite comprehension,
And said, "My poor child!"

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

22 sec read
642

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCXXXC X AXXBXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 407
Words 78
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 7, 1, 6

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane was an American politician from Elizabethtown who was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776. more…

All Stephen Crane poems | Stephen Crane Books

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