The Back Door

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THE BACK DOOR


If one day you wake up

to find your faith slipped

out sometime during the night

without even the decency of goodbye,

and try as you might you can’t

love God, you might try accepting that

and spend it on children instead. 


There’s a neighbor who says 

she could use a dash of salt, 

and a creepy man who sleeps outside,

and a freshman in a college dorm, 

and plenty of relatives. Look down

to discover the excess on your hands

now that you've stopped holding

a lie, and then look down again to see

the excess of fleshy hands that desperately

need holding. Why waste 

all that love looking up? And hey,


one day you might find the whole

issue a big misunderstanding, and it all

boils down to the fact that God

just looked different than you

were taught to expect, and you were

doing it all along, good and faithful servant.



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