Bidding Final Adieu!

They say You are a great cosmic king,

Master of all, Ruler of everything;

That You live somewhere up in the sky,

At an altitude that’s unimaginably high,

Or else somewhere beyond the universe,

In a place where no mortal can traverse;

That You we must seek to flatter and please,

Falling flat before You or down on our knees;

And that You’re someone we must greatly fear,

Considering ourselves to be Your slaves mere.

Oh what all in Your name they made us learn,

Saying, “Do as we teach or in Hell You’ll burn!”

Oh what inanities they ascribed to You in their books,

Which now seem to me the handiwork of crooks!

Oh the dogmas they said that we must believe

If Your blessings we are to be fit to receive!

Oh how they never tired of their constant refrain:

“If eternal bliss after death you want to gain,

Believe as we say, and do as we preach,

Unquestioningly obey all that we teach.

Know that God is constantly watching you,

Keeping a close tab on all that you do.

He’ll burn you in Hell for all eternity

If you don’t believe us with full certainty,

And if you don’t behave as we say you should,

Defying our definitions of what’s bad and good,

And if you don’t follow the emissaries He has sent

And from their clear path you dare to dissent.”

For a long time I believed what they said

(For that is how I was raised and bred),

But gradually, I came to clearly realise

That much of this was just plain lies.

I now think You don’t exist in the way they’ve taught

And over which for so long they’ve furiously fought.

This is so obvious to me that I'm led to declare

(They may not like it, but now I just don’t care!):

“Foolishly, I squandered many precious years

Believing your fictions, overwhelmed by fears,

Dreading a sky-god whose slaves you said we are,

But from the truth I’m now sure you’re very far.

I refuse any more to believe your nonsense

That made me miserable, perpetually tense.

To your imaginary sky-god, and also to you,

I now take this chance to bid final adieu.”