“I should have stepped in,”
God said, “when they began to barter
figs for sharpened stones.”
 
“Don’t blame yourself.”
Mrs. God took the Lord’s hand.
“People are still basically good.”
 
They looked down
as a cluster of speculators
began to short the new armistice.
 
“You gave them manna.
That was brilliant.”  She remembered
the day people realized this heavenly bounty
 
could not be seized, hoarded,
and monetized.  From a distance
she had watched the most ambitious
 
struggle beneath insane burdens,
only to find swarming maggots the next
morning, their inventory spoiled.
 
One by one they seemed to catch on.
But eventually the very same people
invented hedge funds.
 
“Maybe we can learn something
from them,” Mrs. God suggested,
“and just stop caring.”