This dreary, rain-soaked Monday
in late October,
a reading of Noah
lingering in the mind
and the question
asked by the rabbis
whether he was truly righteous
or just righteous enough
in a very wicked generation,
they can't seem to decide,
and I ask myself why
everything has to be relative
in this world
that floats like a life raft
in black space
riding up and down waves of good and evil
this overloaded boat
mewling with vestiges of the living
collected in twos,
each asking him/herself
why
and the heavens opening
with the answer
why not.
