Deux poèmes d'Arthur Hugh Clough

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Citation:

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"There is no God," the wicked saith,
"And truly it's a blessing,
For what He might have done with us
It's better only guessing."

"There is no God," a youngster thinks,
"or really, if there may be,
He surely did not mean a man
Always to be a baby."

"There is no God, or if there is,"
The tradesman thinks, "'twere funny
If He should take it ill in me
To make a little money."

"Whether there be," the rich man says,
"It matters very little,
For I and mine, thank somebody,
Are not in want of victual."

Some others, also, to themselves,
Who scarce so much as doubt it,
Think there is none, when they are well,
And do not think about it.

But country folks who live beneath
The shadow of the steeple;
The parson and the parson's wife,
And mostly married people;

Youths green and happy in first love,
So thankful for illusion;
And men caught out in what the world
Calls guilt, in first confusion;

And almost everyone when age,
Disease, or sorrows strike him,
Inclines to think there is a God,
Or something very like Him.

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Citation:

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Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would tax himself to worship two?

God's image nowhere shalt thou see,
Save haply in the currency:

Swear not at all; since for thy curse
Thine enemy is not the worse:

At church on Sunday to attend
Will help to keep the world thy friend:

Honor thy parents; that is, all
From whom promotion may befall:

Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive
Officiously to keep alive:

Adultery it is not fit
Or safe, for women, to commit:

Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,
When 'tis so lucrative to cheat:

False witness not to bear be strict;
And cautious, ere you contradict.

Thou shalt not covet; but tradition
Sanctions the keenest competition.

The sum of all is, thou shalt love,
If any body, God above:
At any rate shall never labour
More than thyself to love thy neighbour.

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