Thursday, March 6, 2014

Law and Order (Confessional)



Bring in the homosexual!
The lawmaker says
In a tone – antiseptic and clinical
Like he’s announcing the onset of cancer
Though with less sympathy
No – none at all.

You stand charged with the crime
Of perverting the natural order
And defiling the sanctity of marriage
Under the laws of God and man
You are allowed a final appeal
Speak now
Or forever
Hold
Your
Peace.

                Friends, Americans, Countrymen: Lend me your ears
                You call me criminal and pervert under the laws of the land
                I call myself a casualty of your policy
                I do not believe in original sin
                I believe that whatever shame seated within my soul
                Is engendered
                Not inherent
                An artifice of hateful, unintelligent design.

                You call me criminal
                But I look in the mirror
                And I see a man who has loved people as hard as they’ve hated themselves
                Realizing the heart is too risky a fuel to burn.

                You call me criminal
                But when I turn on the T.V.
                I feel like a refugee
                Running from violence like the blood and water
                That ran from the side of your Lord.

                You call me a criminal
                But I feel like a historian
                Retelling the stories of boys
                Locked in the skins of their fathers
                Possessed by the need for approval
                Often times – they claw themselves out
                 Fingers down to crooked bone
                Often times – they hang themselves
                Necks hanging like crooked fruit
                From the branches of their family trees
                Nooses tied by the sins of their fathers.

                What you call a sin
                That breeds only contempt
                Is what I call a bridge
                Closing the gaps of compassion
                Between me and every other victim
                Of the scapegoat slaughter you offer
                On the altar to your God of love
                You carry as an ark of comely hate
                Rebuilding the ivory tower
                With the ivory bones
                Of the tragically impressionable youth
                You claim to save.
                With the promise of being normal.


                You call me a criminal.
                I am not.
                You call me a monster.
                I am not.
                You call me an abomination.
                I am not.

                Do what you want, but do not throw God’s name in it.
                Your God be my witness.
                If I ever make it into Heaven.
                I'm gonna rattle your pearly gates.
                I'm gonna scream above the angel's song.
                I’m gonna tell him everything.
                I’m gonna confess it all.
               

No comments:

Post a Comment