At a Funeral

The Lord of Mercies, he is rarely tender.
Severity is more His Lordship's style;
The world, with all its majesty and splendor
apparently the staging of a trial.

A jury of your peers? Not in this venue,
where no amount of fervency or zeal
puts clemency or pardon on the menu.
The verdict is not subject to appeal.

And yet we persevere in our devotions,
swear fealty, in this world, and the next,
though some are simply going through the motions,
too scared to deviate from sacred texts.

Bring peace, we say, down from the skies above.
And add that God is beauty, God is love.