The first one who approached me

said that the one who watched over his tribe

had brought about the entire reality

and was playing out a huge cosmic drama

with the tribe

that would all be revealed

ultimately and that I should understand that Oswiecim

can be explained.

The second one who approached me said that the Ultimate

took many forms but was all really One

and that we were born over and over until we were

perfected

and that the ones who were condemned to spending their lives

cleaning the toilets

deserved to be.

The third one told me that I could be enlightened

if I wanted to be

and that there was no Sky Being per se

and that I could reach a place

that he could not describe

but was confident existed.

The fourth one told me about the divineman

who was sent to make a

hideous sacrifice because

the first two who had lived

had disobeyed

and after divineman had submitted to agony and succumbed

he had come alive again

which meant that I didn't have to die if I didn't

want to

and that divineman would be right back

and would be here soon

and it didn't matter that it was now

20 centuries later and his followers were still

holding the door open.

The fifth one told me that the last messenger

had been the amanuensis

for the Terrible Judge

and that the messenger had ridden to the Other Realm

on a beautiful horse and that I had to submit myself

to the only true book or be

alternately boiled and frozen

forever.

And I glanced at Olympus

and looked for Osiris

and contemplated Ahuramazda

and pondered the Mesopotamians sitting in their dark houses

wearing their wings

and

walked away

with a face that betrayed no emotion

as I looked for signs

in the distance.