Although the Preacher be a bore, <br />The Atheist is even more. <br /> <br />I ain't religious worth a damn; <br />My views are reckoned to be broad; <br />And yet I shut up like a clam <br />When folks get figgerin' on God; <br />I'd hate my kids to think like me, <br />And though they leave me in the lurch, <br />I'm always mighty glad to see <br /> My fam'ly trot to Church. <br /> <br />Although of books I have a shelf <br />Of skeptic stuff, I must confess <br />I keep their knowledge to myself: <br />Doubt doesn't help to happiness. <br />I never scoff at Holy Writ, <br />But envy those who hold it true, <br />And though I've never been in it <br /> I'm proud to own a pew. <br /> <br />I always was a doubting Tom; <br />I guess some lads are born that way. <br />I couldn't stick religion from <br />The time I broke the Sabbath Day. <br />Yet unbelief's a bitter brew, <br />And this in arid ways I've learned; <br />If you believe a thing, it's true <br /> As far as your concerned. <br /> <br />I'm sentimental, I agree, <br />For how it always makes me glad <br />To turn from Ingersoll and see <br />My little girls Communion-clad. <br />And as to church my people plod <br />I cry to them with simple glee: <br />"Say, folks, if you should talk to God, <br /> Put in a word for me."<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/freethinker/
