Let's Go Back to Church

the sky opened
forgiveness poured down
soft, wet, and virginal
no fire, no breath
our souls rose translucent
caught in webs of neon and city smog
"rise
we rise
we rise together"
the chant of mankind
"ascend and believe"
I closed my ears and denied them

"doubting thomas
will you doubt in eternity
when the sea swallows the land
when the flaming desert consumes
and the rain pours pours down?"

I opened my eyes to glance darting
at their thin lanky frames
streetlight angels preaching the rapture
upon our beds.
I opened my eyes and lifted my heart
for I thought
of this cold grey
beneath the Sound and
Chicago overtaken by the Michigan and
sand sand sand
blown into every crevice.
I saw the fish and the scorpion,
the crab and the fox
and my laughter, nature's bell on the wind,
my answer to their second coming.

I would find greater comfort for my land-weary toes at
the bottom of the ocean
flesh to nourish further,
and my soul free to swim
amongst the reef.
Greater comfort there than ever
a harp or angels risen in song.

I bade them go without me.

They balked as if incomplete,
stuttered and watched in fierce protest
as I dropped from the dock
and melted
into the first wave that kissed me.