Of What Use? Of What Benefit?

Of what use, of what benefit,

If long hours I spend to sit

In perfect silence and special pose,

Meditating on the tip of my nose,

Or if lengthy, stern fasts I keep,

Or pass many days with no sleep,

Staying awake till deepest night,

Humming hymns till dawn’s in sight,

Or if a string of chants I repeat,

Or spend years in a cave retreat,

Or if I memorise a revered tome,

Or in ‘holy’ spots set off to roam,

Or if I converse with angels aloud,

Or remain hours in prayer bowed,

Or if I journey far on pilgrimage,

Or seek refuge in a hermitage,

Or if I my lips I solemnly seal,

Or have just water for my meal,

Or if I flog myself repenting of sin,

Or in mystic dance like a top spin,

Or if I don a dour ‘pious’ look,

Or write a bulky spiritual book,

Or if I fall at a ‘holy’ man’s feet,

Or stop eating fish and meat,

Or if I recite a Divine name all day,

Or ancient litanies repeatedly say,

Or if in some creed faith I confess,

Or put on a special 'saintly' dress,

Or if I abandon my snug bed,

Or shave all the hair on my head,

Or if on my lips I place a lock,

Or wear a friar’s patched frock,

Or if strict vow of poverty I keep

Or in penitence profusely weep,

Or if from all pleasure I abstain,

Or from frivolity strictly refrain,

Or if I imitate a prophet of old,

Or give in charity silver and gold,

Or if I abandon tobacco and wine,

Or build a grand hallowed shrine,

Of if every evil I loudly protest,

Or from good deeds never rest,

Or if sacred syllables I pronounce,

Or the world I firmly renounce,

Or if I sing loud praises of the Lord,

Or preach fiery sermons all on God,

If doing this all doesn’t help me

A kinder, more loving person be?