The reason I deny the notion
That one should equate the Devil’s evil
With the Son’s unquestionable good;
Mary Magdalene’s sexuality
With the Mother’s immaculate conception
And better-late-than-never Assumption;
Messiah’s return with flaming sword
With his death and resurrection;
Or, indeed, that Satan should become
The Father’s other begotten Son,
And the Trinity be Quaternity;
Is because this myth is not a "God-image"
Nor a revised theology,
But a fable of empathy’s transcendence.
Jerusalem
29 December 1995