It's been a while. So I wrote you this. I decided to read it at speed - it works better that way. And you can probably tell why the original title was 'Relentless'.

Sounds of the Street Preachers

You wander the streets and you see them around you They all but surround you They're happy they found you They know they can hound you They smile and you hear that familiar sound, you Just know this will end only one way - they'll drown you In scriptures and morals and readings and psalms And they hold up their arms Using all of their charms And already you're moving away in alarm But they really don't mean to bring you any harm Because all that they want is a moment in time In your vision they climb Is that really a crime? Back at home if they told you their ultimate cause You would bar all the windows and lock all the doors Yet alone in the street they can now make you pause As your stress level soars It's their minds against yours And the second it takes them to sink in their claws Is the second they think that they've already won And before you can think of a place you can run The one chance to avoid them is finished and done They are already talking of God and his Son And the street preaching madness has only begun So just who are these people, and why do they care If you don't go to prayer And you don't want to share? In their Bible and all that its pages declare Is the truth of their God, and so fine and so rare That they'd place their hand down on its cover and swear That their lives are now promised. To what and to where? An invisible man who is not even there And where is the source of this deep admiration Intense motivation Such pure inspiration? The son of a God gave them news of salvation And this information This realisation That out of a book they could find revelation And something that gives them a life transformation And turns them away from the false explanation The lies education Has fed to their nation This is what drives them on to fight God's Holy war They must battle the evils they truly abhor Yet they promise us something we all can explore Bow your head to the floor Take the path to God's door And they tell you that life everlasting's in store Yet with no word of warning, no chance to implore When you tell them to leave you alone and 'no more' Disregarding your protests, your words they ignore Because all that they know is the one they adore And the Christian words from their mouths simply pour And it's Jesus and nothing else counts any more They can't and they won't and they don't want to leave They just truly believe That you need to receive All the good news this man, or what they now perceive As a God, has to offer. They cannot conceive How a person like you would be blind and naive For they think that your life is so full of temptation And evil sensation The path to damnation But follow their God and you choose liberation The whole generation A new congregation For one destination A home for your soul at the heart of creation Their pace is relentless, it's like an attack On your senses and if you just try to talk back They ignore all the problems and queries you stack At the feet of their scripture - that Bible so black Has not one tiny flaw that they cannot explain You might try to protest but they're sensing your pain And they know you'll deny God again and again But they tell you to think with your heart not your brain And it drives you insane And meanwhile they maintain That the God who so loves you and who they admire The same God whose book seems to bring awe and inspire Has but one single purpose - his central desire Is to burn non-believers like you in the fire And this is God's love? Then this God is a liar With such statements your lack of belief is exposed And the preachers of God see their message opposed Then a sense of mistrust and hostility grows And the words they compose Are from someone who knows That to deal with such foes Is the reason they pose As such plausible speakers of Biblical prose And just what they suppose Is that nobody knows About truth except them and their kind. They compose Some new ways that your mind Will be led like the blind And one day you'll just find That the doubts of the God you so wrongly maligned Have been put far behind And your faith in the saviour of all of mankind Is the thing that will change you for life and will bind Heart and soul to God's word, and in grace be entwined They continue to say That for them each new day It just happens that way And they simply obey What has brought them to pray For your soul and to sadly and darkly survey That without God your lifestyle has led you astray It just isn't okay To now turn God away In the end you will pay But to their full dismay You're an unwilling prey So reluctant they listen as you have your say And you tell them you've heard them and given it thought That you've studied the same God and Bible they're taught You list all of the ways that it all came to naught And the only good thing from religion you caught Was a spreading infection called rational thought And what stirs up your innards and rattles your head Is the knowledge that fear of a God and the dread Of a life living frightened to speak out instead Is now open to critical words and you tread Where large numbers before you have wanted to go They just needed to grow And right now they can show That their lives without Jesus have meaning, although Almost all of the preachers don't think this is so But the atheist numbers increase in their size And we counter the Christian doctrine of lies And we pull it apart and we dare criticise Try to open the shuttered and half-sighted eyes Of the people who fear God and truly despise This new group of free thinkers who see the big prize Is a world without dogma which faith can't disguise It's a far distant future, I grant you that much But if each of us stands up and throws down the crutch Of the Bible then one day we might even touch The religion around us but meanwhile we clutch At thin straws if we honestly think we can reach The closed eyes and blocked ears of the ones who still preach And as atheists all we can do is take each New found member, new sceptic, and hope we can teach That to flourish we all need our powers of speech We have all the same rights as the faithful and each Of us has our own mind and the terrible leech That is sucking the life from each God-absent day Is some band of evangelists wanting to pray But next time they meet you And cheerfully greet you And start with their God-talk just hot off the street you May give up and walk on and turn them away Maybe just for a laugh you could tell them you're gay Just don't think that you'll change them, at least not today If you try to outwit them they'll just start to pray But when next they surround you, here's what you might say: With my courage restored With religion I'm bored That old book is out-dated, your reason is flawed And you speak of God's peace but his son brought the sword And now all that I hear when you preach is a fraud Yes the root of your hatred for me is your Lord Mindless faith you applaud While good works are ignored And for spreading this folly you claim a reward But when all is explored And the facts still record That there's nobody up there, your prayers ignored Tell me why such a fantasy brings you toward All these innocent people who, walking abroad Step around you, avoid you and will not afford You a look or a glance So they dodge and they dance And they side-step the Jesus crowd if there's a chance To escape from your maddening, saddening trance. When you speak of my sin, just when did it begin? Long before I was born you condemned all my kin And all babies you say hold a cancer within So I wonder what chance has a mortal to win With the threat of damnation the chances are slim And for me with my atheist life they are grim Faith's not part of my skin I don't want to go in To the Heaven you speak of - just more lies you spin Your religion's so fractured, in dogma you're stuck And you claim that no evil lies inside your book But outside its worn pages you never dare look And in science from thin air your fantasies pluck Manufactured from muck All your theories suck Add in fear, mix with hate, when you simply mistook What you heard from a sermon that someone made up And repeated so often that time and good luck Have all made it sound true. Those who question are struck With the wrath of their neighbours and such is the plight Of the words of the doubters and those who would fight To the death for their country but not for the right Just to question religion - most cower in fright And they stay out of sight They are oh so polite And if cornered they'll do their best not to ignite And it's really no wonder the Church has such might Yet the time for its critics to surface is right See our flag? No more white And so now we invite You to join with this battle of words we incite All you Christians take home this message tonight You may think we're in darkness but we bring the light

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Footnote:
Since several people have mentioned in the comments to this video hints about rap music and Eminem in particular, I'll just say that the spark for this poem came when I was clicking through some of my MP3s at random and came across 'Lose Yourself' by Eminem. The word 'relentless' just popped up into my head because that's what I was getting from it, a barrage of words, line after line after line. So that was what I was setting out to do here, rather than creating some kind of musical rap. For one thing I can't do those double-twiddly rhyme things in different parts of the line, and I also like to stick to a particular rhythm with my poems - here it's 6 or 12 syllables for most of the lines.

D12's 'Fight Music' would be another example of something relentlessly pounding out a message. The idea for me was to emphasise how the street preachers go on and on, and then show that the same kind of medicine can be turned around and directed right back at them. It was important to read the poem quickly, again to emphasise the continuous pressure, the relentless nature of the situation and the message.

So although the idea started when I heard an Eminem song, I wasn't trying to do anything other than my own thing. It was a great way to play with words, and it's always a high to have an idea like this burst into your head, demanding to be written down!