Hate You, Christ, I Do Not

Hate you, Christ, I do not, or seek. I believe

In you as in the others gods, your elders.

I count you as neither more nor less

Than they are, merely newer.

I do hate, yes, and calmly abhor people

Who seek you above the other gods, yours equals.

I seek you where you are, not higher

Than them, not lower, yourself merely.

Say god, needed perhaps because there was

None like you: one more in the Pantheon, nothing

More, not purer: because the whole

Was complete with gods, except you.

Take care, exclusive idolater of Christ: life

Is multiple, all days different from each other,

And only as multiple shall we

Be with reality and alone.

Written under the pen name of Ricardo Reis9-10-1916