Uncertain Opposites
by Maryella Desak Sirmon
The opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty.
— Paul Tillich
May I carry your faith
when it itches too much,
makes you irritable?
Doubts scratch
like old wool — smelly
if the wool is wet with tears.
Sometimes you need them
to keep you warm,
but sometimes the irritation
outweighs the warmth.
They say nature never creates
two snowflakes exactly alike,
the same being true for trees
and perhaps for faith.
So, hand me your doubts
and fears, your shaky beliefs.
I will hold them until
certainty stops beating you up.
Only then will I gently return
your faith and your doubt
because they need each other.
Maryella Desak Sirmon believes life is a pilgrimage. Physician and lay eucharistic minister, she wrote her first poem in third grade. Her poetry has been published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Oracle Fine Arts Review, October Hill Magazine, Amethyst Review, Deep South Magazine, Delta Poetry Review, Ekstasis, Anomaly Poetry, and elsewhere.
