Nuclear Religion (2021)

I return to find a quiet land,
These silent buildings mark my route,
As I pray ancestral grounds still stand.

I am religious to earth and sand,
Returning to find ground to sprout,
Till the meter crackles in reprimand.

This place was cursed to never stand
By forces far away whose faith I doubt,
Whose only order was to raze our land.

On my way to familiar earth stands,
A different kind of place to be devout:
A new town hall on old church land.

The last church mattered to this land,
Yet belief was caught up in the fallout,
The last illusion of man’s firm hand.

While I struggle to understand,
This rebuilt town after the fallout,
I learn all hope can do is demand
That we rebuild from stone and sand.