NEMEROV 2014 #9

A REPLY TO POPE’S “ESSAY ON MAN”

     All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee; 


     All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not see; 

     All Discord, Harmony, not understood; 


     All partial Evil, universal Good: 


     And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite, 
     One truth is clear, "Whatever IS, is RIGHT."

                        —Alexander Pope, “Essay on Man”


     “Whatever IS is RIGHT,” we might believe
     If such belief could cause us less to grieve,
     If pain and loss were part of God’s kind plan
     To demonstrate His love and care for man;
     Yet for such angst there is no recompense,
     And human suffering has been immense
     Throughout all history: it is the norm
     To which all mortal creatures must conform,
     But most especially men, with memories
     Of personal and general agonies.
     The more we learn, the more we see our plight:
     Whatever is that’s evil is not right
     Nor rationalizable as God’s great plan:
     One cannot justify such ways to man.

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