Spare me, please, your pious cant,
Your 'thou shalt not', your moral rant,
And let me live as I am made
Wild and free and unafraid,
Working out my pilgrim way,
Dreading naught of Judgement Day.
If I'm wrong, I'll rot in Hell,
But rotting there, remember well
The span I spent as but a ploy
To spread a sweet, anarchic joy
And think my life not such a crime,
If others, too, enjoyed my time.

But where I tread, at every turn,
Are Men of Faith, set grim and stern,
Rigid in their claims to be
So righteous they know more than me.
But, cowed beneath their codes and laws
They've lost the plot. The greater cause
Is not in making sets of rules
(Cages built for souls by fools)
But the sharing of an inner light
The love of all that's Good and Right,
And Fair, and True, and Just, and Man
Was made for this, and this the Plan.

I presented the first line to a well known Search Engine and it replied ...

Did you mean: "Spare me, please, your pious cannot" 

But it couldn't find that either! 

It did offer some SUGGESTIONS:
 
- Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
- Try different keywords.
- Try more general keywords.

I can't find it either but it has a feel of Siegfried Sassoon about it.

Norman

This poem reminds me very much of some of the poems of Don Marquis.

Marquis is best remembered as the author of "Archy & Mehitabel," but
he also left behind a sizable body of work that is quite different.
Many of his poems are on anti-authoritarian, freethinking themes. They
are generally written in traditional forms of rhyme and meter, as is
the verse posted above.

Here's an excerpt from one of Marquis's poems:

There's as much of God hinted in one ripple's plashes--
There's as much of Truth glints in yon dragonfly's flight--
There's as much Purpose gleams where yonder trout flashes
As in--any book else!--could we read things aright.

Some of Don Marquis's poetry is available online. Here's a volume
called "Dreams & Dust":

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/ddust10.txt

I've sent a copy to a literate pal of mine.

He reckons that it is Sassoon-like.

He's now going to check through his stuff which includes an anthology of WWI poems.

Will let you know if he strikes gold.