Paul Zimmer (b. 1934)
I waited all day for Christ to climb down
Like a wiry flyweight* from the cross and
Club me on my irreverent teeth, to wade into
My blasphemous gut and drop me like a
Red hot thurible*, the devil roaring in
Reserved seats until he got teh hiccups.
It was a long cold way from the old days
When cassocked and surpliced* I mumbled Latin
At the old priest and rang his obscure bell.
A long way from the dirty wind that blew
The soot like venial sins* across the schoolyard
Where God reigned as a threatening,
One-eyed triangle high in the fleecy sky.
The first Sunday I missed Mass on purpose
I waited all day for Christ to climb down
Like the playground bully, the cuts and mice
Upon his face agleam, and pound me
Till my irreligious tongue hung out.
But of course He never came, knowing that
I was grown up and ready for Him now.
line 3-flyweight: a boxer weighing less than 112 pounds.
line 6-thurible: a censor, container in which incense is burned.
line 9-cassocked and surpliced: wearing the traditional garb of an altar boy during Mass.
line 12-venial sins: minor inadvertent sins.
That is not so. In my own personal experience with Jesus it only matters what is truly in your heart; not how often you go to church. Church was designed to build community among people. It does not matter if you "mumble Latin" to make some "old priest" happy. It does not matter what the priest of a church, your parents, or your peers think of your relationship with Christ. It only matters how much faith you have in Christ.
As I look over this poem again and again I get sick just imagining what the people of the church he went to told him; what it was they said to make him believe that God is a "threatening one-eyed triangle high in the fleecy sky" waiting to zap him for every mistake he makes!
My question is: Why do they do this? Why do they take the words of the Holy Bible and twist them around? My prayer for Zimmer and others in his position is that they will stop consuming crap and find out for themselves. Zimmer took the first step but I hope that peole like him will go even further.