Through the heavy doors and you,
In an instant, are only two
Maybe three years old again,
Smart clothes and someone holding
Your hand too tightly.
Trees through the window.

Close your eyes and kneel.
Nothing you feel
Nothing. Words yes words you came,
After all, to pray, correct?

Where are the remembered words?
Do you remember
The remembered words
They were your father’s,
And his father’s before him
Not yours, they don’t belong to you.
Remembered words come heavy
With previous incantation.

Forgive me I have sinned.
I have sinned because I doubted You
(I do not know if I believe in You)
But I feel your breath
On the nape of my neck
At night, between the streetlamps,
And I feel dirty and ashamed
Of sins uncounted and unnamed.

Through the heavy doors and you
Flushed, little girl, flee from echoes
For new trees and the whisper of shadows
Between the streetlamps.