For $1

I bought the book

“American Poets and Their Theology”

by Augustus Hopkins Strong

from the bi-annual library sale

its cover ancient and yellowed

its pages falling from its spine

its print back from 1919

just shy of the roaring 20’s

having been donated to the Southport Baptist Church Library

back in 1974

by a man named Rufus

whom I’d wager is with the Lord

were I a betting man

but I am not that sort

only the sort who enjoys staring back at my ancestors

the sort who would’ve paid $100

for this tome of my Fathers

the sort who thought I was nearly alone

a sort of fool, thinking heaven will be scarce of poets

a sort of saint, trudging along the pages of a world of sin

maybe one day my pages will fall from my spine

and my children will hold me tightly

hanging onto every word I ever said

be they petty or pretty or proud or profound

and I’ll hold out a bit longer

to wipe tears from their eyes

and to show them, once more,

the Two Paths set before every person

before I reach the end of this Good Path,

and go to find my name written into the Book of Life