Revolutionary Patience

From Dorothee Soelle's poem "Revolutionary Patience":

I don't as they put it believe in god
but to him I cannot say no hard as I try
take a look at him in the garden
when his friends ran out on him
his face wet with fear
and with the spit of his enemies
him I have to believe

Him I can't bear to abandon
to the great disregard for life
to the monotonous passing of millions of years
to the moronic rhythms of work leisure and work
to the boredom we fail to dispel
in cars in beds in stores
That’s how it is they say what do you want
uncertain and not uncritically
I subscribe to the other hypothesis
which is his story
that’s not how it is he said for god is
and he staked his life on this claim
Thinking about it I find
one can’t let him pay alone
for his hypothesis
so I believe him about
god

The way one believes another’s laughter
his tears
or marriage or no for an answer
that’s how you’ll learn
to believe him about life
promised to all