Psalm 6

Lord, why must the world
suffer? why must we
suffer? why must I? self-

centered questions but fair
for it doesn’t seem right
that in a cosmos of choice
if ruled over by you

that suffering should be so
intense or exist at all—why
is this so? well, of course
there’s choice, and it is

ours; it has to be
since we are not puppets
of the divine but must
make choices that matter

and so choice itself must
matter—with real form
and consequence

or else this is a game
and God must be a sadist

and it is not
and God is not

we have an open life
with liberty to choose

(and if not, then not: that is
the consequence
of the power lent the world—it
can be wondrous or horror-filled)

and that’s it, I guess: suffering
is real because it has to be