God Said, I Made a Man by Jose Garcia Villa

                 God Said, I Made A Man

by Jose Garcia Villa

 

God said, "I made a man
Out of clay—
But so bright he, he spun
Himself to brightest Day

Till he was all shining gold,
And oh,
He was lovely to behold!
But in his hands held he a bow

 Aimed at me who created

Him. And I said,
‘Wouldst murder me
Who am thy Fountainhead! '

Then spoke he the man of gold:
‘I will not
Murder thee! I do but
Measure thee. Hold

Thy peace.' And this I did.
But I was curious
Of this so regal head.
‘Give thy name! '—‘Sir! Genius.'"

Lugsong's Exegesis:

When people act like God, are we challenging? Are we questioning Him?  Are we, yes, planning to murder him so we can take his place? The poem is a classic, had read it since I was a child, in my elementary years- when I would believe in magic and the chance to be like Moses, speak directly to Him as in directly, but now that I have grown older, I still believe in magic and I still believe in talking to Him directly and Him to me directly but with the use of symbol, signs, and the likes. This poem I believe is so fitting to the current situation the world is facing. Scientist play God, they create robots that can speak, heal, and even had arrived to the point of cloning a sheep, but what happened to the soul?

The first stanza of the poem tells us how God has created a man, Biblically speaking, we were from the clay but he has breathed on us and thus we are alive and has his image through the spirit/soul that is in us. As God continues to polish man, it became so love- shining, but to his amazement, even bordering confusion, his creation is holding a bow - /But in his hands held he a bow/, the conjunction but is an indication of the confusion. The speaker, God, was surprised, because I think if he was not, the conjunction and is more fitting than but.  line. This line of the poem prophesizes how a man would really challenge his god. How in his limited understanding and wisdom, he would think the brain that he has is comparable to the magnificence of the creator. In his loving way, perhaps he is indeed merciful and forgiving, he still gave man a chance by asking ‘/Wouldst murder me/ Who am thy Fountainhead!/ ' God, being omniscient and omnipotent does not have to ask this anymore. He knows the answer, but, like a loving father he gave his child the chance to explain a mischief. To this however, man replied ‘/I will not/Murder thee! I do but/Measure thee. Hold/Thy peace.' And this I did.” The answer of the golden man will tell us, it is second nature to man to test and at times even to bite the hand that feeds it. God still in good spirit further asked the creation who it is, to which the man answered, “Sir, genius!”

The last line of the poem reminds us that indeed stupidity of man, thought of as great genius would be its downfall. In this relation when viewed in the current world pandemic, one would see what happens when man imitates and acts like God. When he tramples the law and nature and most of all disrespect humanity- humanity’s greed and lust for both knowledge and power has brought us this catastrophic human condition that consumes the very heart and soul of humanity.