The Need for Magic

What’s responsible for this?
This species doesn’t just wish
For the things each needs to thrive,

Doesn’t just plan and create
And coordinate at scale.
Your being holds a longing

For existence to not be
As existence always is,
A common, persistent wish

For the patterns you count on,
The rules on which you rely
To be ruptured, to vanish.

Some are just superstitious,
Including some atheists.
Some are downright malicious,

Both accusing and hoping
Witchery and sorcery
Seethe everywhere in the dark.

Some dream of doors in the air,
Of escape routes through their dreams.
Some just pray and pray and pray

Something not merely something,
Something beyond everything,
Will help them rearrange things.

Sufficiently consistent
To suggest it’s a feature,
Adaptive trait, not a bug,

But eccentrically varied
Enough to seem byproduct
Of something more important,

The human need for magic
Persists, though your existence
Couldn’t exist if it did.