Small Gods

We stopped believing in the large ones

and quietly promoted the small —

the good coffee, the clean inbox,

the six-minute mile, the streak

we cannot bear to break.

Small gods ask so little of us:

no forgiveness, no waiting,

no unanswered prayer left

standing in the hallway

of a difficult year.

Only attendance. Only the ritual,

performed on schedule,

rewarded on schedule,

a religion with excellent

customer service.

I am not against small gods.

I have several. I only wonder,

some nights, what happened

to the part of me

that used to need

something larger

to forgive it.