God Willing

“See you tomorrow then, God willing,” trips the idle tongue,
Not intending for a moment to be taken seriously.
What the voice means is “I’ll be there unless something’s wrong.”
“It is the will of Allah,” intones a bland response
To someone else’s tragedy: half the world or more have beliefs
That bow passively to fate - if only, if only, just for once….

Do we then obscenely ascribe to God, the good,
All earthly calamities, both great and petty, illness
And earthquake, missed bus and raging flood?
Do we really think he would not change the carnage we cause
Through wanton thoughtlessness or ignorance or greed?
Think back for a moment at the God you know and pause….

Was not the life identified with God a challenge to the norm?
Did he not talk to women in a male society, welcome children
Whom others would ignore? Did he not predict hate and storm,
Change and personal revolution to those who lived within his will?
God is not willing to accept the pain, the waste, the poverty of love
Unless we strive and take his energy to change; passivity to kill.