The Good Book

The Good Book

© 2015 Jeff Jackson

Dog-ear the corner

Mark the gold-lined page

Ribbon came unraveled

Leather binding shows its age

Been reading now for decades

Used to be so fun

Now you’re loading bullets

It’s become your favorite gun.

Can’t find the quotes about mercy

They’re not there anymore

Can’t find a word of compassion

For the drunks, the thieves, & the whores

Or the sick, the shamed, or the poor

Who made you judge of what’s clean or unclean?

You took something pure and then made it obscene

When did the good book get so mean for you?

Like a street corner preacher

With a demon in his eye

Your only concern

Is where we go when we die

You nit-pick the sinners

Yet forget your own sin

If the Lord was your savior

When’s the saving begin?

Can’t see the love in a couple

Whose union you can’t abide

Can’t see the faith in person

Who’s religion you denied

Because you like the divide

You feel the same pain they do

When you fall into a hole

Words aren’t meant to be worshipped

But applied to heal our souls