Magpie Tales
God and the Devil have been at it all along,
way before the earth was formed; then as it formed,
and formed from nothing, these two ancient enemies
were at it yet again, each throwing into that
great melting pot which was the earth just then, their own
creations for display - their product placements, we
might call them, forged from their own characters, as their
advertisements, commending them to us. God's part
and his achievements in all this are widely known:
the way he called up darkness and the light, the way
he then spoke us and all the living things of earth
into existence. Parallel with all this, and
trying to keep up, was Satan hard at work and
throwing down his less-than-perfect contributions.
He could not mis-create, though, on the scale of God's
creations, but instead threw down bacteria
and viruses with programmes locked inside for mayhem
and for evil of all kinds: insurgents of a
microscopic size to work their evil wonders
on programmes more divine. Success went to his head
as he found ways to influence creation's path,
and introduced what we are apt to speak of as
design faults in our daily parlance. We are most
aware of those that plague us more directly: so
the prostrate gland is one: that it surrounds a pipe,
the way it does, is not good engineering. Things
can go wrong. The mouth is one: here food and air are asked
to pass each other and to cross in what to all
intents and purposes is empty space. No one
but a devil would have dreamed of such a thing. But
such a thing the devil wrought, and many more to
mar God's plan. And so he tried in other ways as well
to sabotage creation: tried to spoil its colours, taint
the violet of violets, the orange of
its oranges, the blueness of the ocean, and
the range of colourings of human skin. Often
quoted as example are the colours of
the rainbow in the sky. These are as transient
as ever colours came, with no inherent
permanence, and yet the devil could not stain their
beauty or their promise of a triumph for it all.
15 comments:
Powerful piece, Dave. I loved it, and so would Wallace Stevens.
Beautiful writing, Dave
Take care
Marinela
This powerful battles seems neverending.
the devil wrought design faults in man?
Is that what you are saying?
thanks for coming over, Dave; it is so hard to keep up with old friends when new ones keep on knocking on the door.
Wonderful work Dave. Is there a topic you can't write about?
Fantastic and powerful. The devil is at work in Japan :-).
an amazing take on the prompt. wonderful!
Hey! Hey! What a brilliant piece.
What wonderful insight, but what strikes me is that ultimately, goodness cannot be destroyed, and will always color life.
Thank you for visiting me today and for your kind comments!
Rick
the violet of violets, the orange of
its oranges, the blueness of the ocean, and
the range of colourings of human skin. Often
quoted as example are the colours of
the rainbow in the sky...
wow, you have divine imaginations, what a perfect creation of God, devil, myths, and culture...
way to go.
perfect writing.
Fantastic and powerful piece of writing.
I think the devil visited Christchurch,here in NZ, as well as in Japan.
Tess
Wow! That's quite a commendation! Thanks for it. I shall take it to bed with me and put it under my pillow!
Short Poem
Much thanks, I will. You too!
Tabor
I think perhaps they are.
Friko
Speculating, maybe. Going back for a moment to my first love: theology. The great dilemma: if God is all-powerful and all-good, from where do the bad bits come? Our supposed free will (!!) does not quite cut it.
I agree with you about it being hard to keep up with old friends. I am forever renewing acquaintance with one or another. Good to have you back, though.
Carl
Love! I'll have to work on it, I think. Thanks for commenting.
Windsmoke
Thanks. Yes, in a manner of speaking, I guess.
haikulovesongs
Hi. Welcome. Good to have you visiting - and many thanks for the comment.
Lena
A warm welcome to you. Your comment is very much appreciated.
R Burnett Baker
Hi. My thanks to you for visiting and for your comment, which is most welcome. Good to have you with us.
Jingle
Thank you so much for such a generous comment. It is very much valued.
Marilyn
Indeed. In some form or other, I am sure that is true. Than ks for leaving your comment. Every blessing to you all.
I also struggled with where evil came from, Dave. The best I could understand it is to think of any item we buy that requires us to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. If we don’t we can break the item and, although it might still work to some degree, it won’t work as well as when it was new. Satan was a creation of God and if we are to accept the Bible as the word of God and therefore true we have to also accept that as “all God’s works are perfect” Satan was created perfect. Perfection is a confusing term but I understand it in terms of design. For Satan to continue being perfect he was required to follow his creator’s instructions but because he was created with free will he could choose not to however choosing not to invalidated his warranty and broke him; the same happened with Adam and Eve.
What is the difference between a perfect man and an imperfect one? A perfect person is someone whose natural inclination is to do what is right whereas an imperfect person’s natural inclination is to be selfish because the real difference between right and wrong is where you put your own desires. This does not mean that an imperfect person cannot choose to do the right thing and, of course, a perfect person can choose to do the wrong thing. Selfish people aren’t necessarily evil but the more a person gives into their selfish desires the harder it becomes for them to do the right thing. The lamp sitting on the table beside my side of the couch is designed to illuminate. I’m not sure its design is perfect but it does its job to the best of its ability. I could also take it and whack my wife over the head with it and it would probably kill her. It was never designed with that in mind but if I put it to an unnatural use then that is what it is capable of.
All of that is, of course, what I was taught as a kid, Dave. Assigning blame for how we are doesn’t change anything and frankly I couldn’t care less. Whatever caused imperfection – assuming that perfection ever existed – happened a long time ago and the only way we’re ever likely to get back there is through external intervention and I’m not going there.
That's one of the most beautiful and powerful takes on this prompt!! It gave me a whole new perspective of our own human selves.. and of the impenetrable beauty of nature!!
I really enjoyed and absolutely loved this poem!
Very strong, powerful and meaningful. Do you also have your work in a book? I would love to have a book with your wonderful poems.....
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