Yes. No.

A fight on the existence of God.

In a hospital lay a young girl.

She was sick,

cancer spread from her lungs,

to liver, and though her young, frail body.

She watched a bird on the windowsill of her room,

stretching its graceful neck under its sheltering wings

to get the feathers in order to clean them.

Clouds were out.

The bird took flight.

 

The girl watched it fly.

Its wings pumping the air into unseen swirls,

dips, curves, forming its own air currents.

She saw the graceful bird transform.

It grew graceful legs, the feathers becoming a gown of white.

It grew locks of gold, straight hair, or was it brown and curly;

black like a ravens, or white like a doves?

Its wings moved to its back, becoming longer and more elegant.

A strange and beautiful creature they say is hard to come by.

 

The girl thought “An angel.

He or she was sent by God.”

To wipe the tears from her all too young face,

to take the pain of her all too short life away.

She saw it as a gift from God,

a sign that she would go to the clouds where the bird had gone,

where the angel looked down on her,

and she would live eternity with no pain,

awaiting the day her parents came,

brought by the wings of their own angel.

 

She saw the bird as a sign of refuge,

a sign of hope that after the pain she suffered she would be free,

living with God, a man who loved her.

Others saw the bird as a joke,

placed on this Earth to make a mockery of humans;

it was created solely for the purpose to make them ponder existence.

If God existed why would he bring such pain to such a young girl?

If God existed why wouldn’t everyone experience freedom and love?

If God existed why would there be so much cruelty and subterfuge?

 

It was blatantly clear, God does not exist, said they,

It was blatantly clear, God does exist, said she.

It was obvious, no man with great power would allow so many to suffer, said they.

It was obvious, a man with great power was going to take the pain away, said she.

Don’t be ridiculous, those that see the pain know he is not there, said they.

Don’t be ridiculous, those that feel the pain know he is there, said she.

Is he in the clouds?

Yes. No.

Is he in the stars?

Maybe. Not possible.

 

Clouds were out.

The bird took flight.