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| MISSED - the whole pre-teen to young adult socialization |
I was a teen-age atheist and
Except for my father nobody cared
One among several at a Catholic
Boys’ high school it was a
Mixture of exposure to disbelievers
Teen-age rebellion it lasted six months
I concluded belief in God
Was an emotional crutch
In time people would realize
Religion’s a business like other
Enterprises separating people
From their money returning
Something less the profit
My older brother was attending
A college whose Western Civilization
Professors were teaching heretofore
Parochially sheltered Catholic
Young men about corrupt popes
Sales of indulgences Voltaire the
Inquisition the Enlightenment
And free love the crush of facts
Nudged the skeptical crack to
Shatter faith’s thin ceramic vessel
Why had the good sisters brothers
Priests hidden this shabby history
From us the entire facade of churchly
Instruction fell like Humpty Dumpty
From eating meat on Fridays
To the real presence but with it
Rose a greater compensation
A new possibility of getting
Intimate with virgins from
Girls’ Catholic high schools
However the fortress of reflexive
Adherence was not to be so easily
Toppled one had to keep going
Back retelling how none of it’s
True everything’s all pretense
A heart-warming guilt-laden
Institutional charade your parents
Still dragged you to mass you
Were still in a Catholic boys’
High school where daily you
Fed on bible stories religious
Traditions our school was
Taught by a religious group who
Titled themselves the Society of
Mary traced to an early nineteenth
Century survivor of the French
Revolution’s persecution of Catholic
Priests the Blessed William Joseph
Chaminade since others already had
The Society of Jesus Pere Chaminade
Settled for second best his mom
We suffered more Marifying
In four years than any maniac
Of devotion could withstand
God the loving father creator
Jesus the forgiving son redeemer
The inspirational Holy Ghost
All took a back seat to the all
Purpose intercessor the BVM
The blessed virgin Mary
More than enough to make
A devout observer gag
The senior retreat yanked me
Back to the fold of believers
And practictioners except now
In a whirlwind of believing
I became a fervent devotee
The pendulum of adolescent
Enthusiasm having past
The center of practicality I again
Missed out on that far more popular
Far more delicious teen fad of casual
Intimacy with girls my age
c. J.S.Manista, 2015
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