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To the Church I Love
by Jason Vanderlaan

I.
You love
To break my heart.

II.
Follow your pointed finger
To a fragile beginning, necklace
Like a noose around her neck.

(She shall surely hang)

Then retract, adjust your tie.
Ignore the similarity.

III.
Use the prophet as a crutch
And you cripple us all.

IV.
Walk, Bible (1 of 10) in hand
Past the understaffed soup kitchen,
Past the man under the cardboard,
Past the woman with the bruises.

Sigh with relief
As you arrive in comfort.

Kneel beneath your steeple
As it skewers the sky
To pierce the heart of God.

V.
Not every question
Is an attack.

Sometimes we’re just searching.

VI.
Take your place at the front,
At the top, look down.

Lead on and let us
Be still and know
That God wants you,
Not us.

Then complain and condemn
Our lack of involvement.

VII.
I speak not as a severed limb,
But as one still attached,
One who wants to stay.

Is my sorrow so distant to you?
Can you not feel this ache?

© 2008