We want to believe

Альбина Кумирова
              (written in response to a paper cut-out artwork
               by Rose Vickers ‘We Want To Believe’)

Yes, we want to believe, but in whom or in what?
In the leaders of our state?
Their glorious deeds so often rebut
their own ideals by fate.

Yes, we want to believe. I would join the club,
for my instincts are also tribal,
but my trust in this world, I admit, in its nub
now is vanished, alas, through my trial.

Even if I forget deeds of courts and police,
and the Social Services’ lying,
even this in its beauty so innocent piece
is my trust in mankind denying.

Cut on paper so deftly with a special knife,
those intricate patterns remind
that my set of craft knives was stolen - that’s life -
with some other things. Trust undermined.

Even people I loved have betrayed my trust.
Human beings, alas, are deceitful.
Motivated by greed, or by malice, or lust
human nature will find its pitfall.

Yes, I want to believe and I cannot deny
my unwavering faith that grows
like a rose fragile that is set to defy
what the vile and evil impose.

All my personal hurt, all society’s ill
have been bought on the cross at a price.
I believe in my God, in His plan and His will,
His perfection and His sacrifice.

23 October 2011