In The Dirt of Afghanistan

When I was four,
I was told by a Sunday school teacher,
GET SAVED!
Don’t get left behind
when Jesus takes off at the end of days!
And I remember wondering,
What could be worse?
As I pictured my favorite teddy bear
Left behind in the dirt, soulless,
While I floated up to heaven with Jesus

Today, I saw human hands clinging
To wings and wheels,
Like a white-knuckled grip
on a garment hem,
LORD, SAVE US,
they cried
As the planes floated up to the sky
Trying desperately not be left behind

We used to say
”Women and children first!”
But all I could see were men,
Running down the tarmac,
Leaving the women and children behind for last,
Scared souls covered in the dirt
Stirred up by the helicopters
As they floated towards heaven

And then there’s Jesus,
Telling us the first will be last,
And the last will be first,
Just after he himself had exchanged
throne for stable,
sky for soil,
Kneeling there in the dirt
Next to the blind beggar,
Mixing up the word with his ideas,
Like he stirred spit and dirt
To place over the eyes,
Restoring vision,
For an Upside-Down kingdom,
of lasts made first in the clouds,
As he sat there with them,
Those left behind in the dirt.