"God's ashes" (M. Bromberg)

"God's ashes"
(M. Bromberg)



I did it. I did it
because God was getting too needy.

His friendship had moved beyond endurance
and He wanted my attention constantly.

Afterward I put God's ashes on the shelf
in the front hallway in the most beautiful dimestore urn

I could find. It wasn't much with its paste jewels
but still, He looked beautiful next to the mirrored stand

so that every day when I went out
I could see Him when I adjusted my hat.

I was going to lunch with some friends
and after that, a little shopping.

"So long, God, I'll be back in a while.
I'll pick us up something for dinner:

some vermicelli, a bit of cheese, some bread.
A bottle of Your favorite table red, nothing too expensive."

And then I ask if there's anything He needs
at the store, something He's forgotten, perhaps

a pack of Marlboros to help pass the time
in His unendurable, eternal

loneliness.

And every day when I go out I give a dollar
to the first person who asks for change.

"God's ashes" by M. Bromberg is previously unpublished.