Eugene Gordon, "God is a Swaggering Bully" (1930)
God is a swaggering bully
Whose hip pockets are all bulging
With hand grenades of thunderbolts.
Strutting down the vast universe,
He hurls these to suit his pleasure,
Unconcerned where they fall or whom
They strike in falling. Just for fun
He presses down his foot upon
The bed of the Mississippi
And bellows with mirth as the flood
Spews upward and away beyond
The river banks, destroying all
It overtakes. Or, once again,
He puffs his cheeks and blows
With idiotic playfulness
Through the base of some volcano
(Like Vesuvius), sending spar ks
Of massive stone, and molten rock,
To trap the innocent sleeper.
Or, once again, he hurls a bolt
Of sudden death into a crowd
Of those who worship him beneath
A roof dedicated to his
Own glory. Now and then he takes
An idolized inf ant, or else
Strikes dead a parent upon whom
A helpless brood depends for life.
God is a swaggering bully
Who, strutting down the universe,
Cries, "Love me, for I'm your father."
Being the sagacious braggart
That he is, he must know the truth
That love is never commanded
By even God himself. Being wise,
He must know with what secret hate
His cowed children look upon him.
God is a dangerous braggart
Whose hip pockets are all bulging
With hand grenades of thunderbolts.
Published in Saturday Evening Quill, 1930