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Faithless

In all the years…
of all the things you’ve called me…
(and let’s be honest
it’s few and far between
the expletives I’ve failed to extract
from your flabbergasted countenance)…
Faithless got the biggest laugh.

My faith cannot be nailed to a crucifix
Nor can it be whispered in guilty tones
through a lattice to a priest
My faith cannot be entombed
in the age yellowed pages of a tome
My faith does not start crusades or wars
It will not strap on explosives 
Or burn to death in markets
It does not work in soup kitchens 
Or employ the unemployable
Reduce the carbon in the atmosphere
Stand between fists and faces
in familial homes
My faith will not instigate a siege
Result in mass suicide
It will not prevent the logging 
of old growth forests
My faith cannot protect uranium 
from in situ leaching
My faith cannot be sustained
by the lighting of a candle
or the burning of incense
My faith will not attend Mass, 
celebrate Hanukkah
participate in Ramadan

My faith may not be grasped in your hand
examined and boxed and labeled
My faith may dissolve the frameworks
you attempt to force upon it
But my dear...
my faith stands in 
my shadows
not yours
existing by definition 
where it cannot be seen.

Of all the things you’ve called me
Faithless got the biggest laugh.  

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