And made my final stand.
"I don't deserve your doom
For murdering a man.
"Yes, I did murder.
Yes, I did kill.
Still I say I'm innocent,
For I lacked my own free will!
"Our every act is part
Of the Lord our God's own plan.
He fixed my dark inerrant task
To kill my fellow man."
The judge peered down
And said to me with steady,
Troubled frown,
"You say God made you do this.
I've heard this tale before.
For better men have claimed the same
Facing their own death's door.
"Kings have claimed the solemn right
To slaughter towns in foreign lands
In name of God's great might.
"And Popes and priests
Through centuries
Decreed swift death to infidels
Without regard to inquiries:
God's place for them was hell.
"To all that I have but one reply:
That the Lord our God is indeed sly.
So he sent his killers out to kill.
But I, too, lack free will!
God's plan at last has justice in it;
My role as judge is to instill it."
"Oh, woeful end!"
I stand and cry.
"Our God indeed is very sly!
How could I have foreseen this?
That God's own planned creation
Fails without the constant death,
Takes the believer's final breath,
And seals his own damnation!"
