Though Thomas Doubts

Though Thomas Doubts
© Surazeus
2025 01 04

Though Thomas doubts the sun above is real 
he kicks dry leaves that swirl in gust of wind 
while strolling through electric atmosphere 
to taste sweet bitterness of wordless ghosts 
who linger round old houses without doors 
where telephones never ring on the walls. 

Peering through smudged windows of empty stores 
where mice and cockroaches tend merchandise, 
Thomas ponders why the sky is still blue 
though airplanes poison clouds with foul exhaust 
and chugging cars belch carbon monoxide 
that shrouds city towers in yellow smog. 

Near sports field of the abandoned high school, 
where he got stabbed while saving Kate from rape, 
Thomas slouches by the crumbling brick wall 
that once supported railroad tracks for fun, 
and wonders how to tell his aging dad 
he got fired from the furniture factory. 

Stuck in this dirty nowhere factory town, 
always going around in circles fast 
as wolves run howling in the haunted woods, 
Thomas doubts that he can ever escape 
cycle of poverty they talk about 
on the late evening television news. 

Though Thomas doubts the Savior will return, 
he pauses in front of the white-walled church 
with narrow steeple reaching for the sky, 
then prays for help, if God is indeed real, 
yet nothing happens but the evening wind 
gusts harder at his fragile skeleton. 

Strange flash of light erupts before his eyes 
so he steps back and shields his face from glare 
of holy light that envelops his soul 
with sudden bright epiphany of truth, 
so he believes that Jesus must be real 
as the garbage truck honks, and hits him hard. 

Hurled back hard against locked doors of the church, 
Thomas gasps from shock of the dire impact, 
and floats outstretched in shimmering Sea of Doubt 
forever downward through infinite swirls 
of laughing rainbows that bind him with wings 
in tremors of soul-searing honesty. 

Waking in the hospital, paralyzed 
from the waist down, Thomas develops faith 
in salvation as he learns how to paint 
enormous complex murals that depict 
characters performing dramatic roles 
in noble history of Zarathia.