[Old and Unreadable] Max's Thought-Provoking Poetry

The War of Attrition

A war of faith, waged over spirit
Does fighting for religion still hold any merit?

It's all just religion, religion, a touchy topic, it seems
How could it not be, a person's fundamental belief?

Across the world, believers fight over their belief's core
Insults and discrimination lead to all-out war
Not just any war, a war of attrition
A bloody, messy conflict where nobody wins
Many times religion is a puppet, a blatant lie
With conquerors and extremists merely using it as a guise
Cowering behind their protective scripture
Corrupting others: poor, innocent and willing listeners
Poor people sucked into the maelstrom that is faith
Clouding their minds, prayers leading them to calamity's gate

Yet, in such an inhumane war of attrition
Is there anything to turn to but religion?
For it offers a special sanctuary of solace and peace
In many faiths unique, and completely free.
In the conflict that knocks outside many a man's door
Religion can save them, bringing love for all
Tender communities of faith-fuelled love
Answering the mysteries of the stars above
Giving new life and meaning in many situations
A new railroad to follow from an old, broken station

A two-sided coin presents itself, over this war of attrition
But when the coin hits the ground, the great dictator is your opinion.

Or is your opinion the problem, is this dusty old boot?
What you call religion, lost its practicality's truth?

Religion, Religion, worshiped since the beginning of time
Yet a war has started; is the end to be denied?

Religion is easy and reliably nostalgic
It can bring you back to earth and stretch like elastic
With something so ancient and ingrained inside us
Why do people abuse it, what is all the fuss?
A question many prophets are surely asking
With all this peace, why is Isis casting?
For Religion is relaxing and simple to accept
It helps us find new, improved identity, from the novice to adept
And it is like a dusty old boot
More comfortable than your sandals and goes well with a suit

But the world is changing, the market is changing
Your boot has become impractical, and it even pains you
It's been worn away by new social ideologies and forced down
When you take into account the world today, you should turn around
It is hard to turn from your faith, your trustworthy shoe
But it is holding you back in a time with so much to do
Years ago religion was a way to explain the universe
Now science is here, has religion not become adverse?
The shoe had been replaced with sleeker models
The old brown won't cut it now; we accept all colours

The war has littered the earth with ash and soot
When you are on the battlefield, what will you wear on your foot?

The right choice may be indeed in the clear path
The obvious future in religion's farce

Religion, religion, arduous but reliable
The path it presents is hardly deniable

It is a torch, a magnanimous glow in the dark
A path it will show you, should you open your heart
In a world littered with bones and devastation
Where do you go when forced out of your nation?
Where do you go when stumbling into the black of life?
The torch will show the way and never lie
The torch is your faith, you live the way it leads you
Should you reject it, will the black ensue?
Why would you turn from the path you can build happiness?
Why so many questions left unanswered?

Without a torch to lead you, what have you become?
Will you stray from the path you feel you belong?
Or do you even need this blatant suffocation?
Is faith's path just leading to damnation?
For rules are brimming in this church you sit
There is nothing stopping you from letting off a bit
For this path the torch shows you is oh so narrow
Would walking down it fill you with sorrow?
For we were created, be it by God or not
We are all unique, would this path make out individuality forgot?