Elf Shot

Any invisible malice
Thought possible source of illness,
Any immeasurable x

Needed to fudge an equation,
To make it work as description,
Any unknowns in the distance,

Get attributed to agents,
And, so long as mysterious,
To anthropomorphic agents—

Deities, demons, and fairies,
Or vaguely willful entities
Somewhere out there, pulling the strings.

In one sense, this is just weakness,
The tendency to project
Human wickedness on the dark,

To imagine malevolence
From diseases and energies.
In another sense, it’s good sense,

Since you’ve evolved to expect harm,
Like help, is most likely human.
When hurt, assume some person first.