As for idols, they are impotent. Not
one can see or speak or feel
a neighbor’s ache—her dog dead
and child missing below the levee. I read
headlines and feel more
than all the idols that there ever were.
Even the idol that is our idea
of God is impotent—B is not A—
yet God does what he pleases,
the earth what is true to its nature.
We build cities and pay scant attention
to either, then cry foul when the dam breaks.
Idols cannot save, nor theologies.
Only God, and that is no great comfort.