Trained in science, I still believe
That natural selection cannot explain all.
In the punctuated equilibria of the fossil record, I perceive
That the immense slow time, once appealed, has gone afield,
And that geologically rapid and tiny times unsealed
The hidden seeds of many new species that rose
Some to fall and some to persist
And this happened many times, like special creations,
Or special swift periods of helping design.
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To think so I know is not countenanced now;
Not by the major minds of science or philosophy, not many.
But I will not say not any:
For I surmise that some who think so, will not say so,
The scorn and consequence being for them too tall.
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Nor am I saying that I know that there was or is intelligent design;
Only that I see it myself, and believe it to be a valid hypothesis,
And that no view should undergo  an apotheosis,
Untouchable to disagreement or questioning or more thought.
The earth is vastly ancient, and Genesis I know
Is not the way it chronologically nor topologically occurred.
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I see cold indifferent cruelty
In many biological designs and systems wrought;
And I do not deny what makes me cry: yet I also see
Finely organized designs which, though rarely absolutely perfectly,
Show purposes and goals and meanings--
And something like Mind--Something like Someone--
Behind the Blind.
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Though I see as unlikely, any human religion's Deity,
Yet I think and feel that Something around us, and within us,
Is far greater and far more mysterious than Science is able to see;
And without faith, I will still feel hope that this vast magic Mystery
Despite pains and perils of present and past, and all tragic history,
Will somehow over large tracts of time, work out a saving grace.
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I see intelligence in the structures and acts of animals--
Say, ants and bees--
And in the weeping eyes of people crying pitiful pleading prayers--
Whether aloud, or in the silent-showing pain of suffering and cares;
Whether standing or reclining or sitting or on bleeding knees--
And I cannot believe that Intelligence can be forever unkind.
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I feel within myself the image of God:
In my own inner I AM.
I feel, with my love of my fellow and sister people,
That same magnificent existence of the image of God:
The inner I AM, within each and every one of them.
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In the living eyes of my friends and my family and my lovers,
And in the spirit-expressive eyes that window every stranger's face,
I have seen God's Word.

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Written by Michael LP
On Thursday, November 29, 2012 12:47 AM PST
At 11:51 PM, 62 degrees F.  High: 67  Low: 50  Forecast: partly cloudy
Copyright (C) by Michel LP.  All rights reserved
(Copyrighted for my estate)