Collins says that mortality is the underlying theme of Western poetry (“Only the perishable can be beautiful, which is why we are unmoved by artificial flowers.”)
--from an article by Jim Manney at: https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/billy-collins/
Out of the Mouth of Babes
(Matthew 21:16)
On the short car ride
from Alameda island
to Bay Farm island,
I was trying in vain
to explain to my ten year-old
why God lets people
die of floods, and earthquakes
and cancer.
My son interrupted me.
Dad, he said
you know how I see God?
I see him as
an out of work
construction worker
who’s dancing around
his apartment
in his underwear,
a beer in one hand
and a hammer in the other...
so, of course he’s going to
break some things.
We can’t expect perfection
from a guy like that, can we?
