What Used to Be Is

What used to be is today
technology and astrophysics not withstanding
the human heart and the symbols of the spirit
have been and are
consistent
across the ages

we think of the persons in religious texts
in ancient dramatic tragedies
as living in a flattened and diametric world
decisions made on a razors edge
with simply and obvious emotions and choices
Kill Isaac or disobey the Living God
Look back at Persephone while fleeing Hades and lose her for ever
kill Oedipus or face the abominations of prophecy
build an arc in the arid land

The gnostics and Manicheans
described the creator as the Demiurge
this was the force that formed
out of chaos all that exists
including evil

Judeo-Christians believe in a personified creative force
set apart absolutely
from evil and corruption
yet intimately involved in the temptations of man
not as the source of temptation
but as a countervailing entity
blancing out the adversarial invitations of the devil
as seen in Job
and through out the histo-theological texts

And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel
...
God could bear the misery of Israel no longer