01-22-2018, 04:24 PM
One Flesh
When you leave the church as an adult,
marry for love like a good woman should,
you wonder how many folks were faking it:
the verses, flannel graphs and sermons
proposing marriage as God's solution
to the problem of loneliness.
You wonder if the pastors lied
when they told you that they received
from God what he promised--
whether they merely gave or limply allowed;
how they felt about themselves
when they told teens that married sex
was too fine a thing, like intimacy is scarce
and you don't want to waste a single drop.
You wonder what it means
when orgasms don't coordinate--
whether that's all Satan's fault,
or some missing link between husband and wife,
and what it says about God
that there's always so much room for more.
When you leave the church as an adult,
marry for love like a good woman should,
you wonder how many folks were faking it:
the verses, flannel graphs and sermons
proposing marriage as God's solution
to the problem of loneliness.
You wonder if the pastors lied
when they told you that they received
from God what he promised--
whether they merely gave or limply allowed;
how they felt about themselves
when they told teens that married sex
was too fine a thing, like intimacy is scarce
and you don't want to waste a single drop.
You wonder what it means
when orgasms don't coordinate--
whether that's all Satan's fault,
or some missing link between husband and wife,
and what it says about God
that there's always so much room for more.