In the Name of God

Beyond my window, I see a tapestry of blues and mauves,
And I wonder where you are.
In the distance lies a church, the symbol of our undoing.
You chose religion and I chose to interpret God my way.
There could be no compromise.

You chose the only path I could not follow.
So, I said goodbye to you, my music man,
Who used to write love songs for me.
I walked away from a 10-year love,
From tender kisses and a touch that ignited passion.
Without a backward glance, I left you.

Seated on my couch, your free-flowing hair, now shorn,
You’d adopted society’s image of biblical piety,
Discarded your tie-dye shirt for an uptight suit.
You found religion and we lost our future.
How Godly was that?

Do you really believe in a trite little God in the clouds?
One who doles out ill or favor, judges, punishes?
Or were you just so broken you needed fellowship,
A clan, so to speak, wherein you could hide?

I see your spirit reflected in the colors beyond my window,
One that once was rebellious, passionate, musical, and free.
And I wonder if your choice has made you happy,
Or if you, like me, wonder if you made the wrong choice.

Maybe I could have played the role of preacher’s wife.
Pretending God is small, separate, and dull.
Maybe you could have kept your fire and religion too.
Then again, maybe not.

All I know is that we had a pure and special love,
And we threw it away in the name of our gods.

What kind of God would have ever wanted that?