Ranier Maria Rilke (internal link) was not the first to suggest that perhaps God depends on us as much as we on him, but Rilke was certainly the most gifted when it came to conveying that thought.
What will you do, God, when I die?
What will you do, God, when I die?
When I, your drink, go stale or dry?
I am your garb, the trade you ply.
You lose your meaning, losing me.
Homeless without me, you will be
robbed of your welcome, warm and sweet.
I am your sandals: your tired feet
will wander bare for want of me.
Your mighty cloak will fall away.
Your glance that on my cheek was laid.
and pillowed warm, will seek, dismayed
the comfort that I offered once ——
to lie, as sunset colors fade
in the cold lap of alien stones.
What will you do, God? I am afraid.
RMR, Poems from the Book of Hours
