I can't reconcile <br />myself to what goes on <br />under the blue sky, <br /> <br />that unifying symbol, <br />Glory painted right above us <br />in case we ever needed a reminder <br />of how One all life is — <br /> <br />under this miraculous dome <br />that gives our breath and breezes, <br />whose spinning molecules <br />of dervish ozone dance <br />in my eyes, propelling <br />my entire being into ecstasy <br />just from sticking my head <br />out the door in the morning. <br /> <br />And yet under this blue <br />sky atrocities go on, <br /> <br />nine million killed, <br />for example, <br />in the trenches <br />of World War I, <br />many on a beautiful <br />day like this one. <br /> <br />I don't have to recite <br />the litany of modern history, <br />you were there or <br />you read or heard <br />about it, and if not, <br />look at yesterday's papers, <br /> <br />and closer to home <br />I often struggle in my own life <br />like a fish who can barely <br />suck oxygen through his gills. <br /> <br />Life seems to be made <br />for contemplation <br />of this conundrum — <br />hell and purgatory continue <br />to stage their dramas on earth, <br />yet I know this world <br />can only be Heaven <br /> <br />under the gorgeous Unity <br />of the one, life-giving <br />blue sky.<br /><br />Max Reif<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/under-the-blue-sky/
