a conversation on faith

Speaking of religion during the down times
at work in the empty hospital operating room
you spoke so knowingly of how these spiritual
structures were constructed

and the baptist deacon's wife was put out
by the talk of the buddha and the
sly notion that, well, perhaps her faith
was good for some people

and at the top of this heap you stood
on the ground that perhaps there was some deity
or prime spirit somewhere in all these traditions
and yet in all truth there you stood
yes, you stood under your pith-
helmet of thought
like an old-fashioned anthropologist
in these savage lands

what am I supposed to do, how exactly
will I disagree?
but still I can feel that the land
is strong if savage, and faith can no more be built
than we could build vegetables
for all that we cultivate and work the soil

for all the dirt in our two nostrils
and beneath our nails, the fruit of the earth
makes us glad as the days grow dark
if this is simple, it is simple
as a sound sleep
and a new day.