Testament

"Testament"


Someday I must atone for what I’ve done

In the name of the father and the son:

I do not bring peace but I bring a sword—

Witness heaven and hell in one accord.

Abandon that family – follow me:

I will atone for this inequity.

Forgive me, for I do blaspheme today—

I will give my answer on Judgment Day.

But there is a lesson I must learn

Before receiving punishment I earn:

If I should grow again with each mistake

Then I should be condemned for my own sake,

So I may revel in sacred knowledge

I encounter in sinful tutelage.

I inherit my sense of right and wrong

Not from a bequest which didn’t belong

To me, but from what I earned honestly

Through my schooling in blunt conformity

With the blinded oracle of Nature.

I therefore know myself as a creature

Abused by God and cast into a pit

For transcending my ignorant spirit.