Theogony II: The Birth of God

by Paul Martin Freeman (April 2024)

 

Prologue

Now all this Thought as yet was mere potential
Existing deep within the Dreamer’s Mind.
In order to advance it was essential
That some with Form be presently combined.

The first of those to join with Form was Evil,
And from this union was the Devil born.
But this required the birth of something equal;
Thus God appeared, its foe eternal sworn.

***

We’ve almost reached the moment of Creation,
But now we need to pause our tale awhile.
Accounting for that primal vast explosion
Requires acquaintanceship with something vile.

First, Evil fraternised with willing Form
And from that act emerged a hideous shape:
Of every wickedness a toxic swarm
From Bloody Murder to Incestuous Rape.

And many Archetypes were there as well
That screamed and squabbled for supremacy.
And these became those Denizens of Hell
Of which are Woe and Death the legacy.

Embedded was this shape in all existence;
Forever after now this thing was there.
Contending with it strengthened its resistance
As gleefully it spread to all Despair.

This thing would soon be called by many names,
As many as the empty desert’s sands;
But always was it constant in its aims
While spreading like the plague in ancient lands.

The Devil, though, is what it’s mostly known by;
The Fiend or Satan also is it named.
Its poisoned fruit is always what it’s shown by;
With Hate and Lies its presence is proclaimed.

And now this thing, or Devil, started working,
Not ever resting while it hunted prey;
And always somewhere in the background lurking,
Or striving actively to lead astray.

Thus Satan in the Dreamer’s world appeared
To which henceforth a name was now accorded;
With Woe and Death this Heaven thus was seared,
As is forever afterwards recorded.

But his appearance had this consequence:
Duality required a twin for Evil.
And thus was born from Form and Providence
A Spirit Satan’s opposite and equal.

This Spirit Man has always known as God,
Begotten of the Dreamer’s timeless presence.
And none should take offence or find it odd
That God derives from something else’s essence.

For God is but the Dreamer’s active phase,
Embodying Its kingly power in action,
And born to battle Satan and his ways,
Not cause uncaused but only caused reaction.

Alone the One, existing prior to Thought,
Persists in isolation on its own.
All else in twins Duality has wrought,
And even God thus doesn’t stand alone.

And this we see in all the world about us:
Where God is found is also found that other.
And though no doubt some kindly folk will doubt us,
In truth, the Lord of Hosts is Satan’s brother.

By other titles is He also known:
As Yahweh, El, Jehovah, Adonai.
Our God Almighty sits upon a throne
As Elohim, Tzevaot and El Shaddai.

And so were born the two antagonists
Whose struggle would the Universe create:
The two incomparable protagonists
Who would determine all of human fate.

And each now girds his mighty loins for battle,
Their preparations all portending war,
The Devil howling like a hideous jackal
And God responding with a lion’s roar.

Let none be either shocked by such an image
That God is hereby likened to a beast.
The world we know is but a temporal visage
In which the greatest hide inside the least.

For God and Satan live in all we see;
In all we think and all we do and say.
And all that happens in Eternity
Is always here, alive and well today.

 

Table of Contents

 

Paul Martin Freeman is a former art dealer in London. The poem is from The Bus Poems, currently in preparation. His book, A Chocolate Box Menagerie, is published by New English Review Press and is available here.

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