Lucifer appears to win by invoking anti-life; the Sandman pulls off a hail Mary pass from Hope. Proving everything is not lost, if hope remains; hope has no form and is not alive; it only exists in the mind.

Alas hope, at least in terms of Taoist philosophical thought ... as passing through me ... can be its own trap when it is linked to longing.

Hope for all its ability to keep one going in the face of tremendous odds, and to even defeat the devil herself; is also the ethereal yin to hell fire's yang.

And with it purgatory is maintained.

13

Esteem is a ladder
With neither top nor bottom
It depends on the shaky regard of others
To keep the climber from falling

Hope is a phantom
To which you sacrifice the day
To grasp at a tomorrow
That will have sacrifice still further

Hope and esteem serve the internal foe
The internal foe is contained within you

A small part of the whole
A grain of sand to the universe
Yet it claims it is a world
Capable of blocking out the sun

Do not grasp; do not climb

For self
Choose not the sand
Choose the universe
Choose the world

You will love the universe
You will love the world

Link to Spoken Word

Faith(not religious adherence) but faith dissolves karma for as long as that faith can be maintained. Meditation does this as well. I know this because now and then I live it; but then where is the story in that.