One could blame God, of course,
That there are on this Earth
So many desirable things
That we are warned
Not to desire.
One could charge him with
Gross negligence in the matter—
With having wantonly tossed us
Into a sea of temptation, as it were,
While forbidding us to drown in it.
But such a one would be missing the point
That God, having put us here without apology,
Has also given us each a viable faculty by which
We can partake in the very point of our sojourn here—
By which we can, if we are willing,
Decide to care about the quality of ourselves
And of our conduct,
And to decide how much
And how long
And how well
To care about it.
It is, I believe, the very point of our time here—
Whether we care to realize it or not—
That we learn to manage our passions well,
Both fanning into flame the godly ones
And dousing the rest—
That we learn to stay on the dry land
And avoid the sea,
Metaphorically speaking, of course.
And if we should fail at this,
It is not God who will be to blame,
But our own lack of care
In the choosing.
Indeed, man was created to live
On the dry land,
And not in the sea,
And was given enough sense
To know the difference—
Enough sense that it would indeed
Be proper of God
To hold a man accountable
After the fact
For how well he did.
