There Is No God, the Wicked Sayeth

Arthur Hugh Clough 1819 (Liverpool) – 1861 (Florence)



"There is no God," the wicked saith,
"And truly it's a blessing,
For what He might have done with us
It's better only guessing."

"There is no God," a youngster thinks,
"or really, if there may be,
He surely did not mean a man
Always to be a baby."

"There is no God, or if there is,"
The tradesman thinks, "'twere funny
If He should take it ill in me
To make a little money."

"Whether there be," the rich man says,
"It matters very little,
For I and mine, thank somebody,
Are not in want of victual."

Some others, also, to themselves,
Who scarce so much as doubt it,
Think there is none, when they are well,
And do not think about it.

But country folks who live beneath
The shadow of the steeple;
The parson and the parson's wife,
And mostly married people;

Youths green and happy in first love,
So thankful for illusion;
And men caught out in what the world
Calls guilt, in first confusion;

And almost everyone when age,
Disease, or sorrows strike him,
Inclines to think there is a God,
Or something very like Him.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 12, 2023

58 sec read
75

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXB XCXC XCCC XDCD XEXE ADXD XFXF XGXG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 991
Words 201
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Arthur Hugh Clough

Arthur Hugh Clough was an English poet, an educationalist, and the devoted assistant to ground-breaking nurse Florence Nightingale. more…

All Arthur Hugh Clough poems | Arthur Hugh Clough Books

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