Hearts Still Care

My religion is all religion.
My religion is hope.
My religion is all that preaches
Any pain to cope.

My religion is not prescriptive;
It does not think of one path;
My religion is written in the stars;
It’s what exists in a child’s heart.

My religion isn’t bound to scripture,
Or rule or obeisance that’s blind;
It caters to a conscience, that’s built
From wounds to the heart and the mind.

It speaks of no lingering hate;
It but asks of me to live and let live;
It implores me to gauge what I get
From anger or the chance to forgive.

I take the best from your religion and theirs,
I take the path of do no harm;
So I can take the path of the scalpel,
Or I can submit to a happy charm.

The winds and the directions and planets
Existed before any religion’s first breath;
As such, empathy is all I know of life
And peace is all I can think of death.