Returning to Church
Walking through the snow with her was enough, quiet enough, white
breaking beneath
our boots
White then dirt
White
then concrete
Not a word
I watched the black branches of the oaks gliding above us
like the sadows of koi
Shadows, she was singing
Shadows!
*
I had forgotten
all the promies they make
at church, singing or
not singing--
A new body
A living water
I wanted to be very still and listen to her voice moving out in front of me
There are two houses
The dark and quiet
house of God
and the house of her
voice
*
The light through the stained-glass window was snow
Do you want to be home forever?
It's all right if you do
Kiss me in the pew among strangers who aren't strangers but His
other homeless children
The light through the stained-glass window
was snow, not Grace
not Spirit
Not, lightly
His fingers
*
Everyone's so nice!
And they don't even know me, they don't think they have to, hand
after hand
they take my hand
A prayer of bone
The old, beautiful
Wurlitzer rising
behind us
It underwrite all our blessings, note for note, on its way up into the
rafters
I don't have to explain
Hand after
hand
I don't have to be embarrassed
*
The black branches of the oaks glide agove us like the shadows of koi
Disappearing
beneath leaves
and mud
What does God promise?
It's winter, so
the orange and red bellies of the fish
look like small fires
Soon everything will ice over
There won't be
any room, not
anymore
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