“Praying to a God” by Mr. Probz (LUKE remix)

I thought you may enjoy this poem I wrote.

of mountains and men
by michelle milam

i am reopening my rock, replacing it with a heart

repenting from
my latent worship
of mountains of men
prehistoric hands preserved
in amber waves of grain
of golden calves of majesty
masquerading as
exploding
reddened
stars
twinkling
as they build ladders
to a golden age
to make her great,
again

it was a greatness i, too, sung
dark and comely, sitting outside the table
and a house of white columns
watching —

wanting to belong
to human castles built of dust

they thought themselves
more numerous
than the glory
of father abraham’s sons
more worthy
than the diadem
of pain they inflict
as they reclaim
the calf and fatten her
for the great feast
of their return

instead, i will simply
come,
knowing you came in a manger
not a mountain

born of dust and divine
hope unalived
only to be resurrected
the king of kings
a foreigner in a foreign land
with nothing to offer but
yourself

for in these days
kingdom rises against kingdom
and nation against nation
humanity sings hymns of anthems
perplexing perpetual
butterflies disguised
as caterpillars
stinging like the removal of flesh from mosquitoes
praying at the altar of
porcelain
as we release all that is holy
to her gods

i will no longer
pray to gods that won’t talk back
that will not lift a finger to save
those who drown
in their self-created splendor
cradled in thorny crowns created with blooming pride
and the bloodshed

that our Father warned us of

instead, i ask for forgiveness;
for seeking love
in the carved faces of stony fathers
former giants
towering monuments of pride and stone,
who can claim to save nations
but cannot save the soul

I interpreted a little bit differently, and I am a person of faith. I think that I agree with you that there is multiple imagery in the language. I see a portrait of a young woman who came from a broken home. I do think that the dress refers to infidelity and that she takes that infidelity or that sexualization on to be able to cope and that she followed in her footsteps and powered her nose by using cocaine.

It was very interesting because when I first heard the lyrics, I thought that he was saying guy not God because of the way that this was pronounced. I was very interested if alter actually means as you go and alter or if it perhaps means standing at the altar, wishing for marriage or wishing for something that she didn’t have. The god could also be drugs could be her pills. In any event, it’s a very interesting song, but I didn’t see it as necessarily a repudiation of God but of God that we create don’t necessarily help us or save us.

I did write a poem after listening to the song about how I felt about the recent election.