L.S. Asekoff

           & so they were chained together breaking stone under a black sun. Every once in a while one was released from his chains & taken from them. As they continued to toil they would hear the sharp crack of a gunshot echoing off rock, then silence. Is that a fit image for the life of man? Pascal thought so, Pascal who sewed into the seam of his jacket the saving words from "the night of fire." Is it all a blind wager? A throw of the dice? A leap in the dark? Old King Priam, kneeling heartbroken at the feet of the conquering hero who had killed his son, whom did he pray to? A terrible god no one sees? "I am the god whose name is not uttered rashly. If you do not do what I command, there will be no tomorrow." Who are the gods to us? Why must they be told what they already know?