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"God's ashes" by M. Bromberg is previously unpublished.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