Poetry by Ruth Boerger
By Heart
Last Sunday I went to church hymns, prayers, sermon confession, absolution Fifty years of ritual I know it by heart my heart no longer soothed by ritual I know the hymns by heart can harmonize with any song in the book Scriptures embedded in my memory from age six words repeated repeated Called it memory work poetry Kings James style
The Catechism
ten commandments
office of the keys
holy scriptures
not-so-holy
doctrine
By heart
I know it all
fifty years of ritual
My church
no longer
gothic
no walls
no steeple
My minister
no longer
a man
in black robes
By heart
I know god
what’s sacred
holy
god speaks
to me
by heart
