Standing up over and over
for one hymn after another.
The wonderful love,
another prayer.
Scripture and affirmation,
blessing, sermon, offertory.
Something for believers.
The Pouring of the Water.
Coffee, cake, and mingling
downstairs, fellowship.
Pretty much foreign
and alien to
a long unbeliever.
After that, I felt much better,
more at home
in the plein air outside
out front by myself
waiting for the others,
the wind on my face
and through the boughs
beside me of
40-foot-tall pines,
as much as I ever need
of God, Nature and peace
after all this time.