16 February 2017

#16 - All Saints' Day

"We know that everything is for the best
in this, the best of all possible worlds.
The Lord's perfect creation has unfurled
evil exists to put us to the test."

Voltaire just laughs "My friend, you surely jest!
The fractured earth, the boiling seas that hurled
their rage upon this European pearl
disprove the 'Optimism' you've expressed."

Through Lisbon's broken bones and tumbling spires
a devastation none can understand
through bedlam, flood and all-consuming fires,
Herr Leibniz strolls with Pangloss, hand in hand,
to seek the views of those still left alive
on All Saints' Day in seventeen fifty-five.

RJT


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