A GOD TO BELIEVE IN

POETRY BY JESSICA BOUNDS

Every night I pray. Not to god, but to you, To your body and your heart. Every time we kiss, I whisper a prayer Into your lips. You laugh and tell me

“That’s not how you do it.” You grab my hands and shape them Into a sacrilegious fold of my fingers, Interlocking to hold in the warmth of your voice. You try to teach me how to believe in God, But all I believe in is you.

I think this must be what it’s like to be religious. To believe in something with your whole being, Even when you can’t see or hear or touch it. To believe that you will come back home at the end of the day,

Every day,

Because no god could ever be so cruel as to tear us apart.