Barter

No one knows of a god,
No one believes in one,
Who’s above bargaining

A bit with deity—
If you this; I will that.
Prayers and sacrifices,

Sometimes good deeds, sometimes
Good meat on an altar,
Sometimes sheer devotion—

If you save me, I’ll live
To your greater glory.
People are bargainers.

Trade with other people
Is how modern humans
Overran this planet.

There’s no situation
So dire someone won’t try
Bargaining out of it,

But some situations
Yield no human partners.
So? You trade anyway—

As a cat will make mouse
Out of a spot of light,
As a bird will display

Feathers to a mirror,
A human being will
Bargain hard with bare air.