No Such Thing As Fate

O, Universe and great forces who heed no prayer,
Who bore us in the beginning from gas and light,
Who formed for millions of years the sea and the air,
Who watch indifferently from the unending night,
Thank you for being there; thank you for no hate,
Or for love either, and for no such thing as fate.

If there were truly gods or goddesses who made us,
They would demand (if any myth is halfway true),
To be honored with sacrifice and with fuss,
And when they thought they had not received their due,
They would make our lives miserable, and unfree;
And they would be careful of the idea of destiny.

They would reassure us that we all had a place,
That we all had a standing on the board of the game,
That we should trust in their strength and in their grace,
That we should offer a sacrifice to make a claim,
That we were born mortal in order that we might die,
That we might praise our way to some heaven in the sky.

But some of us die young, and others decline;
And life is chaos, which loves no rule ever made;
And no one has ever found proof of the divine;
And no sacrifice has ever changed the plan as laid;
And no one has ever come back from death so dark
To say that on the other side there is light and the lark.

I love thee, O universe that made us from fire,
That bore us slowly from reptiles and from rain,
And is blind and indifferent to any human desire,
That looks on whether we rejoice or suffer pain
With the same calm stars that serve as thy gaze,
That are beautiful whether lovely or ugly the days.

I love the stillness of the sky when we scream out,
The gurgle of the water that sings when we cry,
The gold that lies in the earth at the baby's shout,
The flowers that rise, unanswering, when we ask, "Why?"
The mountains are firm no matter what we know;
Stone is stone no matter how many come and go.

I adore the starlight that comes at the end of the day,
That is still there beyond all the human lights.
I love the moon that we cannot catch or chase away,
And that can rise on all the fearful full-moon nights,
Without touching human behavior save in mind.
I love that the universe is both deaf and blind.

Not that my love makes a difference; and I am glad.
There are no gods who will demand my praise,
And religions are ecstasies believed in by the mad
Who need the comfort of a god to face the days.
I will rejoice in the absence of chains or of hate,
Of the utter freedom that comes without there being fate.