At sixteen I sat in your pews
Agreeing as you spoke Good News
You left me an offer to have my back
If somehow my life got out of whack
Years went by, life flew off its tracks
You said prayers guarded our backs
Then as I stood up against a wall
I realized you never had mine at all
Would you miss me if I left?
Would you hold me close as I wept?
I almost want to test this theory
One where if I was gone, I was erased from memory
The times I was tired and cried
You never knew how many times I tried
You reassured that my life was tough
And comforted by saying that I wasn’t praying enough
I was spiraling, falling
And you weren’t even caring
I proved to be right
I was gone and you didn’t care where I was at night
You never asked, you never called
You never knew where I was at all
I was dealing with lies, betrayal and abuses
All you said was get over it, I don’t want your excuses
I found some place that has my back
For the next time life got out of whack
My age may say that I’m twenty-six, no longer a teen
But in my mind, I’m back to when I was sixteen