In religion and ethics, evil refers to the "bad" aspects of the behavior and reasoning of human beings —those which are deliberately void of conscience, and show a wanton desire for destruction. In most cultures, the word is used to describe acts, thoughts, and ideas which are thought to (either directly or causally) bring about affliction and death —the opposite of goodness, which itself refers to aspects which are life-affirming, peaceful, and constructive. Aspects regarded as "evil" are thought of as immoral, corrupt, corrupting, inhumane, selfish, and wicked.
O word that bends the brazen will of man,
O wicked, horrible word of most low,
Do you not signify the opposite of truth?
Are you but contrary to goodness?
And what is goodness actually?
O most unconscionable term, darkness in breath, shrieking hell!
Word that corrupts the vast courage `neath the heavens,
Pardon humanity for their wishing you away,
Lips perched in winking goodness, pious reason, and accessorized hope
Treading before your four letters, tumbling, naked and wheezing.
Might you wrestle goodness to her knees
and pin her in breathless abstraction, agape of your power;
Transforming once good men into fiery sentinels,
Into hounds of death and annihilation
And not give one screech of an iota of an exacting damn the outcome?
And you, bowing to its wavering hue,
Have you not the grace to speak
With your own wet tongues to end its reign?
Are you so weak as to ride the ebbing crest of furious failure
Rather than champion the righted journey home?
Go ahead, evil, smirk, then cackle your unhappy fluff,
You’re done- One just flips your letters… and they live.
The victor will never be asked if he told the truth. __Adolph Hitler
Copyright © 2006 mrp / thepoetryman
