Et Lux Erat

Et Lux Erat

ET LUX ERAT
By Lucy Rutherford
Word count: 189
Rating: G
Summary: A poem describing the undeniable nature of God.

We went last week to an exposition

Or something of that sort

And heard a man who studied things

Like plants and old, dry bones.

Self-proclaimed prophet he

Who spoke for man, not God

And caught the world in tubes of glass

Denying all things without.

“The world is changing, fellow men,

And man is changing too:

Soon he will need no higher being

To soothe and calm his fears.

All superstitious, backwards rules

Will fade without a gasp

And we will rule supreme as gods

Accountable to only us.”

I thought most surely he would die

That man-god prophesier

But Heav’n stood silent except for the breeze

And the stars stayed in their place.

He raised a lightbulb – Lo, it shone! –

And claimed Enlightenment

Yet the rising sun drowned out his bulb

And far outdid his poor display.

“Then what’s the point of life or love,

And, tell me, did we make ourselves?

And what shall be the final price

Of mankind’s arrogance?”

He looked at me and dropped his jaw

And called me ignorant

But not a word could he reply

As church bells announced the dawn.

Original Poetry