It Lifts

by Rev. Erik Karas

It is not like Evil to make a mistake.

Yet that is what he has done. 

His greed has shown his hand.

With Pittsburgh,

New Zealand,

Sri Lanka.

 

It was greed that did it.

It was Evil treating us all as equals that tore off his mask! 

You can see it now, can’t you? Tell me you can see it too! 

Tell me my Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighbors; 

Give me a knowing smile, 

my Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist friends; 

Tell me that this choking smog is lifting for you as well.

 

Give me a sign that you too can see the thick poisonous vapor,

that has covered the earth,

forever like a shroud;

Tell me that you too can see it, 

thinning now toward opacity, 

fading into transparency.

Can’t you see more clearly now?

 

Can’t you see that Evil does not care which ritual you use?

Evil doesn’t care about doctrines or denominations,

liturgies or litanies, what we sing or what we wear. 

Evil does not care for one of us more than another. 

Evil only cares, 

that you stay at home,

lock the door, 

and hide, in fear.

Evil knows that when we are alone, 

regardless of our faith, 

we all drown,

in exactly, 

the same 

way. 

 

Alone is the only place,

Evil can slowly, methodically, torturously, 

replace the breath, the wind, the spirit in our lungs

day after day,

drop by drop,

with the dirty, murky,

dank and putrid,

liquid-darkness… of fear.

 

Alone is where liquid death fills our lungs dram by dram,

until the last, fleeting whisper 

of wind, of breath, of spirit… 

passes across our lips, 

in a single, 

tiny, 

final, 

lonely, 

bubble.

 

But we’ve now seen Evil’s hand! 

We now see the madness of his method! 

We see clearly how easily Evil is undone!

It is now so clear! You see it, don’t you?

All each of us needs to defeat Evil once and for all,

is to unlock the door,

walk one door down, 

and be with each other.