Mischief

wordsout by godfrey rust
BREAKING THE CHAINS < 2 of 61 >

Mischief

In the beginning
God made physicists
out of nothing at all.

Now hold on
said the physicists,
that's against a law.

God,
having not yet made Einstein,
said nothing.

Then God made theologians
and became man
and joined them.

Oh no said the theologians,
it's one thing or the other,
God or man.

God smiled
and passed the bread and wine.

Finally God made philosophers
and died for them.

We've got you there
said the philosophers.
Immortals don't die—it's inconsistent!

But God,
having anticipated this objection,
got up,
packed away his shroud
and walked back into town to see his friends.

And then
just when he'd got them really interested,
just when then they were running out of arguments,
just when it looked like he'd put them straight
once and for all,
God made disciples
and left.

That's God for you.
Always full of surprises,
never know what he won't do next.
Wouldn't put it past him
just about now
with the physicists, theologians and philosophers
thinking they've almost worked it out
to come back
and prove them wrong again,

even though
that's the very last thing
he's likely to do.

This poem has been published elsewhere under the title "God and man".