Vicarious

I have watched the world
From this armchair
Comfortable and removed
From the scum and the drudgery
Of human contact
From this armchair I have judged
Multitudes ridden by guilt
From pleasures of which they partook
I handed out penance
To peons of sin
Granted comfort
In chaos, in order and in between

I listened with an impatient heart
To confessions of
Petty infractions
That to my mind would not warrant
The notice of the Omniscient One

I listened with a prurient ear
To sins of the flesh
That I could not commit myself

Through it all I saw and heard
Sometimes touched and smelled
The dirt that lies beneath
The respectable lives of the collective

For I was put in this armchair
To remind this race
That in the midst of the trouble and sorrow
There is One who listens
There is One who cares
And there is One whose hand guides
The will to be free
And the freedom to have a will
But they are mistaken
For I am one not unlike them
I just commit my sins in this armchair.