Paradise Lost & Found

Sometimes

people are gonna lie to you.

And they'll do it

out of your ignorance

or your lack

of curiosity,

your not bothering

to look into it

for yourself,

the belief

that something

is impenetrable

and so you can just trust

what they tell you.

Right?

In college

I took a class

where Paradise Lost

was explained

as Lucifer's fall from grace.

I admit,

if it was something

I was supposed to have read,

either complete

or excerpt,

I certainly

have no memory

of it.

At some point

I acquired a copy,

later, 

as an adult,

as a mature

appreciator

of fiction.

And eventually

I read it,

either for the first time,

or again,

but the result

was the same

all the same,

which is to say

it was a revelation.

I have no sympathy for the devil.

And that's not even

what Milton wrote.

His is a grand sweep

of the whole story,

of Lucifer

failing to fulfill

the role

Christ assumed,

the good son,

however you want to view it,

the most literary interpretation

of the faith

that dominated the world

for two thousand years.

If the Christian world

fades into myth,

then Milton

will be its Homer.

It's that simple.