Religious rituals …

Religious rituals
stress-easing,
self-pleasing,
nothing solving,
nor resolving
loneliness of human frailty,
questions of heart’s hungry honesty,
basic facts of deepest gravity –
is our world a chance occurrence?
are we products of mere perchance?
are there spirits wreaking vengeance?
is there one of great magnificence?
who is truly good and powerful?
who has said he’s sent a message
of solution and salvation
almighty being’s revelation
even coming as a man
whose history we all can scan
if desiring more than ritual
man-designed, unverified, unhopeful …?