I know I shouldn’t make fun of god,
but I think he goofs every now and then.
So, what must it be like to be all knowing,
omnipotent and everything to everyone?
Pretty heady stuff I would imagine.
But what happens when that entity, that person, or god,
is carrying a tray full of paint of every color imaginable,
and steps over a mountain range,
catching their toe on the topmost peak.
Can you see it?
God cartwheeling across China,
paint flying across three provinces,
the music, can you paint with all the colors of the wind,
playing in the background?
When the paint clears, is it a catastrophe?
Like the time I spilled my cereal all over my mother’s new rug.
Or is it simply another masterpiece,
like so many god has done before,
like the flowers covering the low valleys in springtime,
or the black and white paintings he does in winter
of snow-covered peaks in moonlight.
I suppose, these mountains in China
are just another example of god’s artistic
method of letting things fall where they may.
I’m beginning to wonder if anything is ever planned,
any thought given to design in advance.
No wonder evolution is such a popular theory of creation.
After trying for seven days to get his technique down right,
he just quit and let things run their own course.
Now look what we have.
Unadulterated beauty everywhere.
It’s enough to throw your hands up in the air
and just sit, crossed legged,
take it all in and call it a day.
Maybe that’s it. Those mountains,
full of color, unnatural color at that,
happened on the first day,
followed by everything else afterward.
No, those mountains in China were a slip,
a muscle spasm upending the paint tray of life,
what a spasm it was.
—Paul Causey
Inspired by the visual prompt: Rainbow Mountains of China’s Zhangye Danxia National Geologic
