Not a good day to be a Mainer: gay marriage was repealed, thanks to my own neighbors. According to the Bangor Daily News, 75 percent of Harmony voters voted for repeal, and I'm so irked that I can't even think of a synonym that would help me avoid writing "voters voted." But though I may be distressed, I am not surprised. Conservative Christianity is a powerhouse in northern rural Maine, and I knew my town would vote for repeal. I did believe, however, that progressive southern Maine would override that faction. Apparently not.

Therefore, it seems only right to quote from the Book, and this is what I have accidentally put my finger on. Amazing. No wonder anyone can see anything he wants to see in the Bible. But hell, if he can do it, so can I.

from Psalm 73

If I had said, "I will speak thus,"

I would have been untrue to the generations of thy children.

But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I perceived their end.

Truly thou dost set them in slippery places;

thou dost make them fall to ruin.

How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors!

They are like a dream when one awakes,

on awaking you despise their phantoms.