Disquisition

By Chana Bloch

One day I dared to put the O back
in G-d,
I watched Him bulge to God -
   paunchy, respectable
and sad.

I brooded about my heresy
until I guessed
that God who loves the circle best
   only to find
   our angularity
might after all not mind.

   He'd take it to heart, perhaps,
   if I chose to drop the caps.

But O that fine round O
   fleshed out from the scrawny spine
   of a minus sign -
   or would He object that O
   was zero,
   taking Him in vain?

God knows,
and O is an O is an O,
   and slyly checks
   our tic-tac-toe
with His wry X.