Dovina1 Feb 2005

You’ve heard it said there are no atheists in foxholes. That’s because most people who are dying or think they’re going to die soon pull all the comforting God-loving, God-saving reinforcements from their religions, all they can possibly muster. That’s why I’m having trouble with your man who does the opposite. Not that it’s impossible. There might be a religious person somewhere, someone who has tried to follow God all his life and when he comes to the end, brings out all these counter arguments. I’ve just never seen it and think it usually goes the other way. I make the arguments in your poem sometimes, but would I make them on my deathbed – that’s the question.