Born and baptized
more than Catholic,
an excellent student
of the Western canon

who did not realize
until almost too late
how much it had also
blasted into near-dust.

Much was given 
as well of course 
but not enough to fill
certain fissures in

his well of being. Much
not directly stolen
leaked away into
the now-dry walls

as a result and to 
compensate all he had
was binary thought, 
a reliance on self

alone, a single meddling
God; not even a scrap of spirit
to call upon in everyday
objects, animals, flowers.

One day he fell ill and
died to the notion of 
a precious afterlife where
he’d still think and still be himself

and instead struck upon
the idea of floating 
across the divide, and saw
there was no divide between

life and death and next life, and as
his own name fell from him,
he said he would be back, smiling
because he knew it was at once

a truth and a lie and a new
Gospel According To Saint
Synchronous arose that said,
find your deity where you are

and forget
my name
as soon as
you do.