The Buffet

1.
Imagine your sins were laid out upon
a buffet table.  Where would you begin?

Would you save the best for last
or plunge your face and slobber it up

first thing? You know if you do the rest
will pale in comparison and you

will lose your appetite. Then what? 
You’d likely sit there wondering

if you missed out on subtleties 
by falling into such gluttony. 

2.
Imagine your sins have been laid out
upon a table short but wide. The dishes

holding them are few but they are vast.
You’ve sampled throughout your life 

but the rib-sticking ones, the ones
upon which you based your diet

and sustenance, are in deep bowls
covered with drip. Where to begin

is the big question. How to finish
is without question. You will finish

eyes open and unable to swallow
one more bite.

3.
Imagine your sins had never fed you.
You still wouldn’t have lived forever.

You’d have sat there wasting away
without one smile on your skinny little face.

You’d have been one clean bag of bones
but you still would have no clue about 

how to eat right. How to digest
the hard stuff. How to add spices,

how to know all the differences between
evils and indulgences,

how to thrive
in the gap.