Promptly Poetry

The Great Bookie in the Sky

Everyone is asking me the most difficult questions today. First, Daily Poem wants to know how I relax (so I told 'em), then QOTD asks for a line to introduce the year 2020 (so I came up with something). And now Lilli wants me to start a fight with everyone in the world. Doesn't everyone know that we Brits are trained not to talk about sex, politics and religion? And what else is there to argue about?

Because it's Lilli, I'll make an exception. It can't be about politics, that being the most volatile subject of all, and it certainly won't be about sex. Which leaves religion, so here goes:

The Great Bookie in the Sky

You’re so sure that there is no God
And that anyone who thinks there is
must be a fool. Not only that,
you’re happy to declare this whenever
it suits you, no matter who you offend.
Well, my oh so rational friend,
I’ll not argue the case with you,
(only a meeting with God can change minds)
but I will give you something to think about
on those off days when you’re not so sure.
My good friend, Clive Staples, always began
by assuming the other guy right,
and taking the matter from there,
and I propose to do the same.
I’ll kick off by saying that, if you are right,
then after you die there’s nothing,
not even a you to see that there’s no void,
no emptiness, no nothing at all,
for you are nothing too. As am I,
at your non-existent side, being as nothing as you,
not even noticing that I was wrong
and it no longer matters what we believed,
or did or said or made or declared
for we’re all nothing now, whatever we’ve been.
There’s no prize for being right, even if
you could accept it, and I don’t pay
for being wrong - neither of us could care less.
But if I’m right,
you, mon ami,
are in deep, deep doo doo.

Only a fool takes a bet
he cannot possibly win.


Line Count: 32
Free Verse (of course - it’s what I do)
For Promptly Poetry, July 27 2020
Prompt: Write a poem where you tell someone they are wrong and why.