School Me

                                       —Psalm 25

What good is this shame?

The debt,

             the deficit. It costs us

it mounts us and

             it multiplies.

the only mercy

             is sloughing it off

some kind of storage, remembering

             to forget.

God, you are riddled

with caves—all the

merciful ways

of darkness

but I have

such trouble with your name

what to call you,

             how to pronounce

                          all the many

                                       vowels. Forgive me.

This is embarrassing.

I do choose You.

I’m listening—

could You just

reach down to me?

Here, I made this nest, full

of half-truths, I am

learning to wait for

You. It would be good

to wait

together.