When I Was Younger

When I was a child, God made so much more sense…

When 7:30 arrived, going to church meant going to church

And sitting up front meant you were really saved

And sitting in the middle meant you were kinda saved

And you were a heathen if you sat in the back

So I sat with the deacons and the regular folks who religiously go to church and I sat silent

Eyes pressed open watching praise dancers close their eyelids and pray to God

How much do you have to contort the form of your face for Him to hear you

And reaching your hand must make Him come near you

They could feel His presence.

This essence was the luminescence of the Spirit of God

Lights danced on faces

Drums played in cadence

And the radiance that is His presence was no façade – This was God

Drum-kissed Baptist feet play rhythms on church floors

And the tambourine made sweet melodies with the hands as if by cue of the Lord

And we’d all play roles and hold scripts like starving actors

Reading the bible and living it backwards

Cannibalizing living words Sunday afternoon till Sunday morning

No one told me this stage was just the seed forming

No one told me that this was just my warning

No one told me that I would have to grow up, and find God.

When I was a child…