Poem: My first theology lesson

Rumpled and furious, my grandfather’s friend

stood up in a bookstore on the North Side

and lamented the lost Jews of Poland

and declared that he felt sorry for God

who had so many problems with Justice

and had become disillusioned and sad

since He wanted to reveal Himself to us

but couldn’t find anyone truly worthy

(it was always the wrong time or place

in our deranged and barbaric century)

and so withdrew into His own radiance

and left us a limited mind and body

to contemplate the ghostly absence,

ourselves alone in a divine wilderness.

Edward Hirsch, a MacArthur Fellow, has published nine books of poems, including “Gabriel: A Poem,” a book-length elegy, and five books of prose, most recently “A Poet’s Glossary.” He is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.