My Silliest Fear Ever

In elementary school

I learned of an impending apocalyptic

Over-population crisis

And became certain that it meant

I’d have no place to live when

I grew up,

So, I lived for years in dread

Of the day where the world would be too crowded

To grant me a place to pillow my head.

But, one summer day after my third-grade year,

I rode in the back of the unairconditioned station wagon,

Windows open, luggage flapping,

And watched the farmlands and forest roll by,

For hours, and hours,

Travelling the rural eastern North Carolina backroads,

And I saw nothing but land,

And not a soul on it,

And I thought, hmm,

Maybe I could live there … or there … or there,

And I became less afraid of the population bomb

That never happened.

It just takes a crack of light

Breaking through the clouds

Of deception to set you free.

May the truth set you free.

Be free, child of God, be free.