She has decided
that if Jesus came to Earth now,
he'd smoke cigarettes,
and he'd always fall in love
with the wrong girl.
Then they could compare notes
and she could teach him
how to not love someone,
and he would tell her
what the water feels like under his feet
when they wake up at night
and can't fall back to sleep.
He would wear his hair in a ponytail,
and his eyes would crinkle when he smiled,
and she would laugh,
then stop, and ask him what hell was like,
and was there any possible way to get someone back
when they'd already gone too far?
He would take a drag on his cigarette,
nod kindly at the two boys holding hands,
and tell her that yes, if you loved someone enough,
you could get them back, even from there.
I thought so, she would say, even though
she's cried herself to sleep some nights
from the fear that love
is simply not enough.