Take Me To School

Lately, I’ve been seeing Jesus everywhere

Arms open, in dire need of a hug

But I just had my shirt cleaned

For years I declined invitations to His many homes

Scrolled past thousands of posts and memes

Deleted every friend request with satisfaction

But I can’t claim to have walked far from the teachings

Poured into my ears since birth,

Stitched into my heart with threads of guilt

I just took a long detour around His interpreters

Now I’m back to fill their coffers

Placing my children in the collection plate

Risking inculcation for a better education

Vouched for by the one person I trust

Hint: it’s not Jesus

Alongside homework with fractions and physics

Are tales of mass and echoes of prayers I repeated ad nauseum

Every day I swallow my hypocrisy

Meekly proclaim I’m no different than them

Using Him for my own purposes

His teachings are the foundation, but

Corporations can’t be people

Institutions can’t love

All I have left to do is pray

That my kids are taught by good people

With their best interests at heart

All while we assume

I’ll be waving at them from Hell