The sun was high in the sky,
the grass green.
Though I had had some petty
rough patches in my life,
I was still untried.
"Put me in, God."
"Oh, my child, so stubborn,"
He mercifully furrowed his brow,
gazing at me lovingly.
"I am your child.
It is my destiny
to take upon the suffering
of the world to save it."
We looked over the infinite
lake of suffering.
He took a bottomless cup
and made as if to scoop it
to its dregs.
With a deft slight of hand,
He skimmed off a thimbleful;
with the tip of a needle,
He pricked the tiniest bead
and dropped it into a fizzy drink.
In tenderhearted concern,
He reluctantly gave it to me.
I joyfully drank it up.
My tongue swole black-purple.
My innards churned.
I snowed flakes of flesh -
my skin began to disintegrate.
My blood ran and ran and ran
till I could not think straight.
The hairs on my head turned ashen;
God counted each one
as they fell off randomly.
I knew helplessness.
I knew hell.
As innocent as a lamb, I bleated,
"Why have You forsaken me."