On Reckoning
when the church bell interrupts
confession, jesus’ second coming
interrupts your reading about
the first, when
saints sin and bishops betray,
when god goes gone
grief gains a guest
gold-gilted pages grow
worn and tattered, when
red letters turn into red visions
turn into red hands on a cross
turn into your hands
on the cross, when
your father has forsaken you
forget what you lost,
remember what you lived
soon your body will be an urn full
of dust labelled with poor typography
but you will still have been you
unless you weren’t