Ivan was an atheist of sorts.
Not that he denied God's existence,
he didn't know about that of course,
but he openly displayed to Him resistance.
How, he asked, could a good-guy god
allow children to suffer so,
tortured, abused, the whole nine yards,
denied even a loving hello?
Alyosha his brother on the other hand
deeply believed and prayed a lot.
God to him was good and grand.
He loved us all and doubted not.
Mitka though was a hot-headed lot,
loved Katya and Grushenka as well
with a passion so pure and burning hot
that he landed in a holy hell.
Ivan, therefore, was adept at thought,
Mitka controlled his feeling not,
Alyosha's will evil fought
without asking where or what.
Philosophers wonder, like any people,
if evil is the absence of good,
or good inversely is the absence of evil.
Reincarnation Blues knocks wood.