A Poem to Evangelicals

#16

You told me over and over again

About all the ways I needed to change

You reminded me constantly of my inadequacies

The ones that weren’t mine but you made me carry

You sat me down

Pulled me aside

Had a talk with

You reprimanded

Scolded

Chastised and maligned

I had so much room for improvement

You claimed you were worthy of my trust

That you knew the way

You could show me

Teach me

But then you said I needed to be smaller

But you never mentioned you were afraid of me

You never acknowledged how scared I made you

You called your method leadership

But what you meant was preservation

Conservation of obsolescence

Perpetuating harmful ideas

I hated all your ideas

You had never met one like me

I was too pure

Too strong

Too true

Too honest

And everything about me 

Scared everything in you

It struck fear into what fear told you to hold

So when Fear said, 

"Kill all his goodness,

And snuff out the light”

You tried