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.
