ON A LINE FROM HENNY YOUNGMAN
(“When God sneezed, I didn’t know what to say.”)
How to respond to God if She sneezes.
“Go bless Yourself ”? Say something friendly,
for think how lonely She must be,
no one around for tennis or ping-pong,
no other Universe to make eyes at,
no Beyond beyond. Poor God,
forever She’s stuck being everyone,
only Herself for arguments,
for blissed-out, naked afternoons.
No wonder, in Her goatly He-mode,
She drifts into all these rowdy affairs
with Leda, Europa, Mary. Likewise
Her ceaseless wonders and saxophones.
God-bless You, God, and all Your excesses -Your dolphins, and sunsets, and Judy Garlands!
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