You say that you are Catholic
What exactly does that mean
That you eat fish on Fridays
Instead of red meat?

You say that you are Baptist
Never smoke, drink, cuss, nor dance
But what else do you try otherwise
Given half a chance

You say that you are Muslim
And pray 3 times a day
Does what you love outside the Mosque
Make it all okay

You say that you are Jewish
And only Kosher touches your lips
Is that as far as the thoughts of God
Rumble in your head

Please believe me sincerely
I'm not trying to put religion down
Just the thoughts and practices
That we have let slide to far South

It's when we say we are okay
Is when we ought to worry
As we try and find heavens lights
Always in a hurry

We take the path of least resistance
In our forever foggy minds
All along insisting
With God we're doing fine

Basing our salvation
On what it is we do
In our work relation
Instead of on the truth

So whether it is you eat fish
Or pray 3 times a day
Only let Kosher touch your lips
Don't dance the night away

Remember religion serves a purpose
In what at times we need to find
But God himself is what it's all about
And His great love divine

He posits a question
I sit
I postulate
Morning suns are sparks on cinder
In my eyes
Evening suns are dying embers
In my eyes
The sun that lives over me
And the hidden face of the moon
That lives in me
And all manner of day and night
That becomes me
A living ghost
A dying host
A warrior
A coward
An old soul
A young man
He asks a simple question
But there is no simple answer

I place nothing above you
Songbirds sing sweetly in my ears
But you fly higher
Clouds grow and form shapes
But the form that shapes in my mind is your face
The moon is out of reach
But you are a light that shines brighter in my night
The sun can rise and set over me a million times
And the stars beyond
I place nothing above you
Because I love you

I place nothing above you
Not hope or joy or love or life
I would eat your pain
Let your cancer spread through me
And destroy me completely
Let your sorrow become tears I must shed
Let your darkness swallow me whole
I take a misstep and lose my way a thousand times
But I'm found again if you find me
I place nothing above you
Because I love you

Stone forest of forgotten names