[Newspoetry] Intended Consequences

[Donald L Emerick]

Faith, Hope and Clarity
By ROBERT WRIGHT
President Bush's beliefs say in the longest run, divinely guided decisions will be vindicated, and any evidence to the contrary may be a sign of God's continuing involvement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/28/opinion/28wright.html?th
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In the old says, prophets would list the signs of God's unhappiness with His chosen people.  They'd say things like this:

He sends storms to ravage your strong holds,
       and lo hurricanes four times have ripped Florida,
       rolling repeatedly through Republican counties;
He sends fires to consume your forests,
       and lo fires burned the wastelands and the West,
       torching sheltering trees in Republican forestlands;
He sends you to war against falsely claimed enemies,
       and lo your armies are lured into traps,
       some dying, some crying, with many more wounded;
He sends your markets pestilence, consuming your wealth,
       and lo your trade and treasury run bankrupt,
       for your children shall harvest of sour grapes;
He gives away your jobs and your means of livelihood,
       and lo you sit in the dust, covered in ashes,
       wandering idly from place to place, unemployed;
He covers the sun and removes warmth from your days,
       and lo the energy prices surge beyond reason,
       gold, even much fine gold buys no gallon of oil;
He lets your enemies rise up and mock you constantly,
       and lo they blow down tall and proud buildings,
       to humble you in their eyes and to shame you.


Therefore, say I, the prophet of these evil times,
Look ye, oh people, upon Almighty works and Despair,
so that you might be moved toward sorry repentance,
to reform yourself, to return unto the ancient ways,
and come back singing psalms to the Ancient of Days.

When your Kings forget my truths and turn to evil,
follow them not into their iniquitous transgressions;
when they proclaim themselves compassion's companions,
believe not their lying tongues when you hear their swords,
and see the numbers of poor beggars growing ever greater.

Repent, repent, oh my people, and overthrow this King
who with lying lips says that he loves me, and does not;
for this King boasts that he prays and communes with me,
but his vain boasts paint up a lying re-publican corner
for he never hears what words I send unto his deaf ears.

Repent, repent, oh my people, and cast this Satan out
who walks as the dark Lord of this Earth with your aid.