XXXIX
THE ATHEIST’S PRAYER

Hear my prayer, oh non-existent God,
and in your nothingness accept my protests,
You who never leave us without the comfort
of deception. You offer no resistance

to our prayers and you have seen our longing.
The farther you distance yourself from my mind
the more I remember those pleasant fables
which comforted my soul on sad nights.

How great you are, my God! You are so great
you are only an Idea; and no matter how much
we broaden it, our reality is never wide enough

to encompass you. I suffer because of you,
non-existent God, because if you were to exist
then I too would truly exist.