To Whom You Pray



I reject all your religion,
  in favor of myself

Those spewing virtues dogma,
  often kill, with little felt

I reject your revelation,
  with the truth inside my heart

I surrender your salvation,
  from your guilt I live apart

I challenge your commitment,
  when the road gets hard and long

The good intentions you submit,
  Hell’s words without a song

I reject all faith in platitudes,
and your threats—both veiled and not

I refuse to live in servitude,
 and tied to what we’re not

I will reach inside the goodness,
  born to each and every man

I will choose to see the wonder,
  of those souls who say “I can”

And as I look beyond tomorrow,
  to that place we call today

I will live in thanks for who I am,
  —and not to whom you pray

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)
Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted by KurtPhilipBehm on June 12, 2019

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
19

Quick analysis:

Scheme AX XX AB AB XC XC XD XD XE FE XG XG F
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 765
Words 140
Stanzas 13
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1

Kurt Philip Behm

Longtime writer with twelve books in publication. Three of them Poetry. : The Death Of The Playground : The Sword Of Ichiban : Searching For Crazy Horse : Darkening Sun : An Anthology Of Perception-Vol's 1 & 2 : After Midnight : Sammy And Bumpers : The Fall City Mandate : Revenge Along The War Trail : Death from The Sky more…

All Kurt Philip Behm poems | Kurt Philip Behm Books

22 fans

Discuss the poem To Whom You Pray with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "To Whom You Pray" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/48768/to-whom-you-pray>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    3
    days
    11
    hours
    48
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Sonnets were first introduced to England by?
    A William Wordsworth
    B William Shakespeare
    C Sir Thomas Wyatt
    D Petrarch