Mrs. God found the Lord at work
on the male peacock.
“It’s sort of a joke,” he said pleasantly.
He had, of all his animals,
the most joy creating birds

and the people who watch them.
Mrs. God thought he’d gone too far this time.
“Excuse me? Predators?
“I thought we could make them poisonous,”
God offered. “Watch.”

He breathed life into the peacock.
Mrs. God had seen this many times,
yet always she felt anxious,
searching the creature’s eyes for light.
Ah, there it was!

Witnessing this made her acutely aware
of her own next few breaths.
Yes, as often happened, it was at that moment
that God began to lose interest
in what he had wrought.