it could be Perelandra

I’d like to say
war does not belong
or
evil in any obvious form
as well as some
       sometimes
       the insidious

I’d like to go on to say
rampant fire does not belong
whatever
the origin
and
lava flows
eruptions overall

then there are floods
sometimes
seasonal
sometimes otherwise
at hand

in other words
all the problems that destroy the body
try will
with severity
challenge the virtue of the spirit

what promises bad ends
and tries to take us
there
does not belong

could we have a world of this
instead
and what belongs
is
good
and easy
and airy
and practical
and makes a world worthy
from which to explore

and is there
doctrine
or a selling point
that says we’re there already
but
we’re not
and have to deal in all
the evil
with the good
the war
the fire and the flood
and
what goes on inside us
shall we be saved
while everything is motley
to
our spirit-sight
our senses
to celebrate inherent goodness
and
to bring it out


c l couch


Perelandra is a novel by C. S. Lewis.  It is considered science fiction and is about a world facing a choice and so be fallen (as a world) or not.

photo by Qingbao Meng on Unsplash