Space Dive

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 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