Wind from the western mountains bit into my skin, through my thick winter coat.

A heavy snow shone in the sun and covered sidewalks, streets, cars

I shoveled our cars and then the sidewalks.

I shoveled beyond my own yard because neighbors had done that for me.

As I shoveled the last sidewalk, me, hot and sweaty, 

I paused, and a petite blonde girl appeared to me.

She looked like the neighbor’s daughter all grown up 

She said that because of your service to God and man

And doing good for your neighbors, being God’s hands for others

Today you will see your work while riding on the finger of God.

She disappeared as quickly as she appeared.

A woosh took me up into the air. 

I felt something hard and weathered and yet soft and tender 

It was the finger of God.

I was flying high above the town.

Clouds passed me one by one with the blue sky all around me. 

Stars twinkled as I passed them one by one.

All of a sudden, I gently landed.

His hand reached out

And put me down in an age-old cavern.

My ancestors worked to bring families together in this cave, 

safe from the wild animals, rock and dirt from one of the tunnels, 

piled neatly, bringing fire to the cave,

They hunted buffalo, deer and fed themselves

Upon the finger of God,

We went to Africa, where man

Hunted for food and began farming.

God’s finger gently lifted me to different streets

In Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taipei, populated by millions 

In ant hills going up to the sky.

He showed me that we have gone

Far from what was originally intended.

He took me to Chicago and LA and New York

Where people who earn millions of dollars and live in homes 

gaudily decorated in gold and silver. Burning 100 dollar bills to light their cigarettes

Lounging by their swimming pools, laughing, drinking expensive bottled water

Living by those who live on the streets, dirty, starving, hopeless,

With no clean clothes, pillows or warmth. Using a hose for a quick drink, an alley for a bathroom.

And God said this is not what I envisioned when I created this world 

I didn’t realize things could go so wrong.

It is a sickness, but has to run its course, man had free will, made mistakes

and fouled up my Eden.

-John Scarffe