With the Bath Water

When data started to accumulate,
we didn’t think the end would be so tragic.
Facts were such fun, we could eliminate
non-facts. And so we threw away the magic,
the charms, the spells, the powers that removed
all obstacles, the sacred images
that won our wars, brought lover to beloved.
Then we threw out the demigods, the muse,
the spirits in the fountains, planets, trees,
followed by symbols, sacraments—what use
did modern myth-free mortals have for these?
Our reason set no limit to our pride.
Did we kill God, or was it suicide?

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Why Twain Endures

Mark Bauerlein

When the ­Civil War broke out in 1861, Sam ­Clemens (not yet “Mark Twain”) didn’t know where…

Calendar Rituals

John Wilson

On the first day of a new month, I turn the pages of our calendars. To the…

The God of Wes Anderson

Germán Saucedo

The God of Francis Thompson is a stubborn God. In his seminal poem “The Hound of Heaven,”…