In the beginning was the word, John said God said
and then there were so many. Numbers came much later
allowing us to know that God exists [1]
make bombs and count time and the dead
eg 20 million since 1945
by US wars, and every number has a name. [2]
Seems I'm a throwback to basic numerosity
since more than one is you and less than you
is nothing. So when you said, in that matter-of-fact way
you have, that one day you would leave me too
it sent me way back, careening past all meaning.
Behold the Pleistocene. I need to shave.
[1] David Ray Griffin, God Exists But Gawd Does Not, Process Century Press, 2016.
[2] James A. Lucas, "The U.S. Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 'Victim Nations' Since World War II," GlobalResearch.com. A conservative estimate, excluding multiple ongoing conflicts (Ukraine, Gaza). Given US military and economic power there is hardly a conflict in which US "involvement" did not play a major role. 20 million is not exaggerated when predictable consequences of war - famine, disease, displacement, and social collapse - are included, as routinely in public health analysis, not to mention the lethal effects of poverty imposed by sanctions (economic warfare).