Theophany

I was new to the capital city so perhaps

That's why I was chosen to be given the map

Or perhaps it was because the place where I worked

Meant that I wasn't just some other jerk

Either way though, there it was, one day after lunch

A map in an envelope, there with a bunch

Of mail and other stuff there at my desk

With my name in old cursive, no return address

The map of the capital city was clear

And a dot marked the spot whеre it said 'You Are Herе'

But an X marked another spot down a few blocks

So I got out my notebook and I took a walk

Of course there was nothing for me to expect

But I write for the paper so I go where I'm led

And this lead it'd led me to a boarded up space

'Tween a convenience store and a foot massage place

With my pocketed notebook, my flashlight in my teeth

I stooped to the ground and I crawled underneath

And into the dark 'til it swallowed me up

I crawled downwards and downwards towards I didn't know what

'Til after what felt like a mile, maybe more

The ground opened up into a vast marble floor

And a vast marble ceiling arched high and away

Far up into shadow where the real world lay

And there in the middle of the vast marble floor

Was a thing unlike anything I'd seen before

A rotating spiraling mist made of lights

That had something like wings made of something like eyes

And it knew I was there because how could it not

And as it read my mind I tasted its thoughts

And I felt every mask that I ever wore drop

And I knew in that moment I was looking at God

But not the God I'd read about, or had been taught

Not some almighty, vengeful, beneficent God

This God had been humbled or diminished or both

And whatever it once was now tied to a post

And as I read its mind or whatever it's called

It told me of how they'd locked it in the vault

It had come from a place far over the waves

Before that, a place that did not have a name

But like bread into body, water to wine

There were those who could use it to turn wrong to right

So they used it for all the things God is used for

For Second Amendments and new holy wars

And helping the strong so that they'll feed the weak

Protecting the mighty that they might shepherd the meek

And when people get shot and folks say that they care

They need something to go through the thoughts and the prayers

And so they had used it, again and again

And with its moral authority each time they'd win

And in fear of escapes and in hopes just to keep

The God to themselves they had buried it deep

Still they feared it less than just some common ghost

And whatever it once was now tied to a post

And then came the letter, and then I arrived

Looking down on the ground at the rope loosely tied

Oh, to have been trapped here for hundreds of years

Fed on requests and watered with tears

When like all wild things it deserved to be free

To live on its own, and maybe then so could we

So light burned my face as I worked out the knot

And the wind from the howling of wings was so hot

That I thought I might die, 'til the rope fell away

And I fell to the ground, and that's where I stayed

When I awoke in the darkness, alive and alone

The God once possessed 'neath the city had flown

So I picked up my flashlight and left as I came

Back out on the street, it had started to rain