In the great withered dugs
Of Holy Mother Church

I was taught to beg God’s forgiveness
For my transgressions
Real, imagined, or only aspired to

But really, I thought,
For the sheer gall of living
For the audacity of human-ness

For the clear inexcusable lack
Of appreciation for the
Perversity of existence

As humanity
Of which I was but one
Paltry example

Now I know it’s
Not God who can forgive
But only me

For the willfulness
Of falling for that