Eight Billion People

I have always wanted to belong

That’s the deepest desire

I have always carried within me

Like a public secret

But I learned early on

That an essential need in life

Is a weakness to deny

Learned that to be better than

Is the only path to love

Isolation the means to my worth

I was set apart

Baptized at an early age

Declared anointed by ministers

An oracle of God

A very special person

In a world that hates you

A world that is against you

Spirituality my camouflaged weapon

Hijacked by inherited fear

Denounce that world

Including my talents

And my joy

Become perfect

So, I can perform miracles

Heal the crippled

Including myself

To prove my authority

I’m not seeking heaven

I’m an heir to shame

Learned not to fit in with these

Depthless souls

I was warned about

Devils to rebuke

Sunday morning smiles

While I seethe in the background

Cursing the shampoo bottle

In every morning shower

That barstool already on my mind

As God slowly became

the thorn in my side

My only companions

Are the addictions I keep

To numb the ache

That only connection can erase

When I let go of this pride

I find that my entire life

Is a response to a lie

Because what God says is true about me

He says about eight billion people too

Terrified by every encounter

That it might be exposed

That we are one and the same

Secretly, desperately

wanting to embrace them

Believing hugs were unfaithful

Instead, I continued

Having to be anything but ordinary

Chasing permission to belong

By doing great things

Only to discover

The one holy calling

Is to be human

Like everyone else.