Best Humanist Poems
Loving Nature without loving God is a neat trick
But as I love Nature, how could I complain?
Are you a humanist? Spinoza a guy with a large brain
Defined God as Nature; if one is not the other, then please do take your pick
When you are very civilized the wild jungle or temptation:
-Less your cup of tea-
Then God surely is not Love, how bitter can you be?
Without moral compass: (We are so rude) Without chlorophyll: damnation
Without morals indeed I may be lost. Without life much worse:
God without Nature: it’s just no good, or to me, a curse.
Nature excluding God’s creation, I add, gave birth to the capitalist his saw
He logged the wood, set fire to the Amazon and this he named the law
Since the two, towards each other being amorous:
Nature and its God, as Spinoza be my guide: synonymous
Bake sale for equality
Power to the people
But its true nullity
Its not for all people
"You've heard the complaints...
Now its really happening"
Equality with which you must reacquaint
The irony is saddening
One dollar for man
75¢ for a lady
Aren't we all human
We seem divided lately
Im not a feminist
But i hope you don't mind
Im a humanist
I believe in all of man kind
I won't be obedient,
I'll be defiant
Of laws that have no compassion.
I won't obey laws that condemn man.
A law that stops beggars begging,
So they can't eat a morsel of bread,
I'll not tolerate as I won't see them dying,
For the good won’t die but will be fed.
A law that takes most of our hard earned money
To build fancy things, I'll not tolerate,
Or that allows the politicians to be fat, rich and greedy.
I won't obey laws that condemn man.
A law that puts a man in prison,
For stealing a loaf of bread, I'll not tolerate
As he needed it to feed his family for good reason,
And the Injustice system which did this I’ll obliterate.
A law that doles out the death penalty on an alleged murderer
Is not right for he can't fight his innocence from the damn coffin,
And innocent he was as the evidence was in error.
I won't obey laws that condemn man.
A law that discriminates against others,
Because of creed, religion or colour
Is not right and politicians shouldn't wield that power,
And they’ll cower before God’s Altar.
I won't be chained or repressed.
I won't allow their cruelty and immorality
To touch me as I'm blessed by God's Caress.
I won't obey laws that condemn man.
Our poor, disabled, diseased and insane won't suffer,
As they'll be blessed by our Lord and our compassion and care.
They'll always be in the light of God's Magnificence and Power.
And they’ll adorn His Fields as they bloom in sweet flower.
A law that stops me saying what I'm saying in these lines
Is a law that stifles free speech and suffocates the spirit.
Saying kind and humanist things shouldn't be seen as rude but are fine.
I won't obey laws that condemn man.
Let them stone me, ridicule me and treat me like an imbecile,
For I'll live my life with God's Laws, not their rules.
For my mouth, I won't seal,
And my soul, they can’t steal.
Keats—Romantic Humanist
Romanticus-Extraordinaire
John Keats
La Belle Dame sans Merci
Circe-Enchantress to all.
Beautiful, deadly in her elfin grot
Supernatural-nous
She wept and sighed full sore
Hath thee in “Keatsian” thrall.
Gary Bateman, Copyright © All Rights Reserved,
August 17, 2015 (Double Dactyl)
Adieu Fidel Castrol! Adieu Castro!
What a life, What an adventure!
The west with its sophisticated propaganda
could not kill you. In your prime they sought to
assassinate you, yet the world counted on you!
you were the evil they made us believed you were, yet Cuba had the best
Medical facility in Latin America, you saved Maradona, when the west
Could only but watch, patient Cubans reaped the benefit of socialism
they fed us lies upon lies, invaded Cuban and planted division among Cubans
yet you prevailed, the greatest Latin America Statesman of the 20 Century
Rest on Fidel, Dance on in your victory, sleep on sweet Castro
They labelled you a murderer, I call you a humanist,
Second only to Madiba of Africa!
Hugo Chavez is gone, Gaddafi is gone and gone now is Castro
Hamadinejad has been asleep since he exited the political scene
I dare say the world is getting boring! Vladimir Putin has challenged American hegemony to the best of his ability. May Mother Universe bless us with another soul who would teach how to endure and challenge oppression like you did Castro. Adieu Fidel, I bet the world will miss your statesmanship! Adieu. Love and tears reign as I send these words from Africa!
blue planet water
blue sky just scattered sunbeams
dusk's red, unbent light
Brian Johnston
July 28,2014
Poet's Notes:
Isn't it great? Three wonders of nature explained in 17 words. It is so much fun
sharing my love of Physics with others. Lay people in general have no idea the
treasure they are missing. Of course Religious Literalists are the most deprived.
They literally live in the stone age (and the rock is all between their ears!)
Physics is not a replacement for God in my mind, but rather, like a beautiful
sunset, another way of viewing Him, of experiencing His love for us. Physics is
just a different perspective of the same mountain as it were.
God is mysterious (but he is also accessible) . He is a humanist (loving us as
He loves His own son) , a mathematician (the underpinnings of Physics) , a
musician (think of the joy we experience in all harmonies, even discordant
ones) , an artist (the waiting beauty of galaxies far exceeding the imagination
of man) , a humorist (who besides me doesn't think that it is extremely funny
that the Jews, as His chosen people, behaved no differently really than non-
Jews - God granting special favours clearly does not make us better people.
'Just do this for me God and I will never stray! ' Really just hilarious!) , and on
and on.
Really, as usual, Einstein had a very interesting perspective that I think we
should all embrace, 'Reality is an illusion! ' And so it is folks! The only posture
appropriate in the presence of God is one of extreme humility (and gratitude) .
Let me quote one of my own echo poems here, Echo: Alone Too...
Alone….. with the lost! Are prayers ever answered?
Alone….. my heart overwhelmed. Could that be a prayer?
I look at the rainbow as summer squall passes
And find that I'm grateful that I am a player.
Aren't all of life's problems, in the grand scheme of things (if we are honest)
really little more than a 'summer squall? '
Sides
Born into sides
Religious and tribal
Learning quite young
To fear and to rival
If we are Catholic
We hate the Jews
If we are white
We do as we do
If we are men
We do as we want
If we are women
We’re told that we can’t
If we are black
We’re told to go back
If we are red…
We’re mostly all dead
If we’re ALL Human
We’re on the same side
No one to fear
No need to hide
I’m a humanist
I love all my tribe
Won’t you come join us
Just take the Human Side.
By Bill MacEachern 03/23/2022
Wet nights, warm days are what we want in the summer noosphere.
Man's mind one with weather.
If this is true, life is good, or will be good.
Can I be encouraged that my sons will find mystery on the planet
as I did?
How sweet the slow spring! May already and the canopy not out yet.
Woods quiet all winter.
Now I can't distinguish the many bird songs from where I sit.
Red maple flowers and first sugar maple leaves are, to me, the Christ
child
that's been coming.
The ancient poems and the new make the 1/10 inch of annual topsoil
from carbon dioxide loading.
As a humanist I want everyone pursuing happiness; as a naturalist
I sometimes pray for man's destruction. As a rationalist I admit
I lack data.
O to play slow and sure, even when the tune is fast. Inside an aquifer
of love for the audience.
Not to fear or even necessarily obey the changing wind's
direction. Being here I breathe and make the atmosphere as seen
from outer space.
The song of the world will often take you far from yourself. There
will be no self. How will you know yourself?
By knowing thyme and dandelion, the blue jay from the hawk,
the heron in its swamp, black cherries and the one pear at the junction
of the trails.
They are yourself.
Abstraction is an old story with the philosophers, but it has been like a new toy in the hands of the artists of our day. Why can't we have any one quality of poetry we choose by itself? We can have in thought. Then it will go hard if we can't in practice. Our lives for it.
Granted no one but a humanist much cares how sound a poem is if it is only a sound. The sound is the gold in the ore. Then we will have the sound out alone and dispense with the inessential. We do till we make the discovery that the object in writing poetry is to make all poems sound as different as possible from each other, and the resources for that of vowels, consonants, punctuation, syntax, words, sentences, metre are not enough. We need the help of context- meaning-subject matter. That is the greatest help towards variety. All that can be done with words is soon told. So also with metres-particularly in our language where there are virtually but two, strict iambic and loose iambic. The ancients with many were still poor if they depended on metres for all tune. It is painful to watch our sprung-rhythmists straining at the point of omitting one short from a foot for relief from monotony. The possibilities for tune from the dramatic tones of meaning struck across the rigidity of a limited metre are endless. And we are back in poetry as merely one more art of having something to say, sound or unsound. Probably better if sound, because deeper and from wider experience.
Then there is this wildness whereof it is spoken. Granted again that it has an equal claim with sound to being a poem's better half. If it is a wild tune, it is a Poem. Our problem then is, as modern abstractionists, to have the wildness pure; to be wild with nothing to be wild about. We bring up as aberrationists, giving way to undirected associations and kicking ourselves from one chance suggestion to another in all directions as of a hot afternoon in the life of a grasshopper. Theme alone can steady us down. just as the first mystery was how a poem could have a tune in such a straightness as metre, so the second mystery is how a poem can have wildness and at the same time a subject that shall be fulfilled.
When mind doesn't know
Its own secrets – how can one
Swim the sea of life
He was born Hindu or Muslim – it is controversial. Even, he himself made mockery on the same through his own songs. But, it is sure that when he suffered from small pox – then considered as a fatal disease – his own kins abandoned him. They lay him on a floater in the river for god to rescue. A Muslim weaver family found him in a critical condition and nursed him to give his life a second chance. They adopted him. Later, a Baul accepted him as his disciple and once again made him afloat in the sea of wisdom and spirituality.
Fakir Lalon Shah – a humanist, a spiritual leader, a singer & composer of baul songs – rejected all distinction of caste & creed. Many poets got their inspirations from Lalon’s songs. Because of the relevance and spiritual messages of his songs, not only Bauls but also Rock Bands are performing Lalon’s song all over the world.
“How the unknown bird (soul)
Comes within the cage and fly
If I could catch it –
I would have put the chain
Of my minds bond on its feet”
Let Lalon Sain dance
In my minds corridor,
Baul - be my muse
(C) Anindya Mohan Tagore (Bobby)
The coffin is draped in the national flag
A mix of people who are happy and sad
This is a testament to the humanist stand
Welcome to a humanist funeral.
"Always look on the bright side of life"
Is played through the speakers to make you smile
We're told he was "loving and good and kind"
This was his humanist funeral.
There'll be a beer at the end of the meeting
His legacy given to all as a greeting
A cheer up after your tears you'll be needing
After the humanist funeral.
The only thing spoken is what is the past
Nothing of hope and the things that will last
Logic expressed from the evolutionary blast
That is preached at the humanist funeral.
All of his friends have had a say
Of good times of the past that came his way
The coffin leaves to the tune of "my way"
How sad the humanist funeral.
We live in a pluralistic world and society,
Where there's many diverse groups:
Different communities and religions -
About that you can't go through any hoops.
The web should enable all to function,
Free, empower and give identity;
Speech and spoken language are not certified,
So why restrain those who kindle controversy?
A healthy web promotes the blogosphere,
Says that social networking is a right,
That your email address is your privilege,
And that google has ethical height.
But some countries ban them all,
For fear of opinions, taunts and passions;
Governments prohibit gabbers and critics,
And large companies drive at their own visions.
However, freedom of speech and expression,
Stay golden even when trivialised or put down,
And are enabled by privacy, by no observation,
Whether there’s pleasure, distress or frown.
Every belief should be upheld:
Religious, atheist, humanist or crank;
And this premise should be written,
Such that arguments will not mark.
The first Magna Carta liberated,
The individual in society,
So a second Magna Carta is needed,
To free the user digitally.
The web should be cheap for all to use,
And user data should be private strictly;
An open infrastructure should be decentralised,
By having foreign servers for every country.
Whistleblowers keep abuse levels low,
And ethical hackers hold governments to account;
GCHQ should not be above the law,
To tap the publics digital footprints, shouts.
We need to discuss a new Magna Carta,
For the internet, with certain net neutrality,
To keep high quality content affordable,
And state internet law for all in unanimity.
A criminal is sane by their own logic,
You can look into their mind to count them wrong,
They can be confronted for their psychologies,
And told that their song is long.
ISIL is based on the fundamentalist Koran,
Which states that all non-muslims are going to hell,
That all governments should be Islamic,
And of Allah and Mohammed all should tell.
You can challenge these beliefs at school,
Where teens are pressured to choose,
Islamic extremism, prayer and washing,
Such that in the Koran themselves they do loose.
Teachers should be prepared to read to them,
The liberal Koran before they’ve settled on a way,
Or the creed and principles of the humanist,
To offer them and chance at a wiser say.
Educational psychologists and RE teachers,
Should redirect and ask teens to reconsider,
What they’ve seen of Facebook, YouTube,
And to delete their videos of extremist propaganda.
There is a permanent way out,
A long-term answer to this problem of terrorism,
Which is to validate liberal religion, if any, at school,
If the secular is rejected for exclusivism.
Indeed, all schools should base themselves on humanism,
On human values and people ethics for chat,
In assembly where prayer should never place,
Only introspection on life’s structures and bat.
All people are of equal inherent worth,
And since this is not a religious statement,
The ethos of all schools should be humanist,
Not of Christian, Islamic, Muslim sentiment.
Your moral fibre is formed at school,
And not just with your parents at home,
So we should not be enabling or allowing,
Kids in any religion to freely roam.
You sow the seeds of kindness,
In the nutritious soil of beliefs,
So survey each teen for militia,
Towards alternative sheafs.
One world, one people, one universal body,
We’re all the same at base so hear,
That any belief should endorse pluralism,
So that those different to us can be dear.
Religion only causes hurt very ultimately,
So we should analyse it and have a process,
Because god is not sacred but has, like us, evolved,
So promote liberalism and advocate humanism’s dress.
When I opened my eyes, Mum’s love as my first sight
Those everlasting enjoys, Wrapped in a loving mist
laughing all with joys, Running to be a specialist
Unaware of the future ploys, of those so called sophist
Got to play with new toys, found it was so rhythmist
Thrill, adventure and killjoys, with the feelings of revolutionist
The day has come to deploy, proud to got shortlist
had a target to destroy, a country with our relativist
A heart’s true, pure, deep voice, somewhere it exist
A little internal noyes, saying not to be racist
The first victim were boys, those innocent civilist ,
Those blast of cries, oh how can I be such a demonist
A never ending sighs, hurt so much in the heart midst
The sad feeling why, coming to a mind of shootist
The last breathe of my, tears and pains with a tongue twist
Hey I don’t want to be the guy, who is named as a terrorist
Oh my God in the sky, do me a favor if you ever exist
I wanna spread the peace and joy, in my new life as a humanist
Hey I don’t wanna be that guy, who is named as a Terrorist
Hey I don’t wanna be that guy, who is named as a Terrorist
Dear Someone,
I am a prisoner
But humanism has inspired me
I wrote in my diary
That while I will never be Ivy League
My DNA enables me
To change my criminal pedigree
Dear Someone,
My cage is draconian
But the fire inside me
Won’t stay ignorant
It builds slowly
Fed by the sciences
As censors try to silence the id
I’m from the school of Prometheus
Yours Truly,
A Humanist