Hunger

Just have faith, you say to me

As simply as suggesting I switch to fat-free

A diet pill for the insidious craving of my soul

Feeding me empty calories you've learned to swallow whole

Your words an equivocation to a much deeper ache

Finding myself tempted by the fruit from a snake

The wisdom of deities a worthy addiction

Unwilling to stake roots in the topsoil of your conviction

What sort of blind faith do you wish upon me, I implore

Is your god afraid of me asking for more?

More than this daily bread and a seat at the table

Afraid I might gorge myself if only I were able

The Divine I know is not a vending machine

Promising cake if you just eat your greens

You can live skinny all your life and still die of cancer

Looking for signs in the sky to give you an answer

Having faith does not eliminate potential for pain

Or guarantee a grand feast for good deeds done in vain

All it does is let you off the hook for not sitting vigil

While I starve myself here in the messy middle

How long did the god of Sarai make her wait?

Sending her home yet again with a still empty plate

What of the decades she toiled in the waiting

Praising only the happy ending; the cruel journey abating

I don't want a watered-down faith to stifle my hurting

I want one that buys ice cream to eat beside me in my yearning

So do not serve me your religion, I ask of you humbly

Until you know how it feels to go to bed each night hungry