Anyone Can Whistle

Tied, Stamped

God, I’m running away.
You mustn’t come along, this is for me.
Got my bags packed and everything,
Everything I need to brave the
Wilderness.

A couple books, the ones I always read--
Well, not Yours, right, You know,
Because if I’m running away,
then I don’t need it quite so much, right?

But I might slip it in, if it fits, later
Because I know the words, you know.
I like how they fit on my tongue.
No promises, though, God. It might not
Fit in.

Food too, PopTarts.
Daily bread, I guess; but I bought it myself.
And juice too, for my vitamins--
Orange juice, I was thinking at first, but
I got the grape juice.
It was on sale.
But, mind you, don’t take it serious now.
It doesn’t mean anything.

I’m bringing music along too
Maybe when I come back
I’ll show you the songs;
You might like them.
Probably you’ve heard them before anyway.
But I have some other ones too,
Songs that you can’t hear.
That’s why I’m running away,
So I can have those songs,
And other things too.

See, that’s the thing here:
Can’t you just imagine the places I’ll go,
The things I’ll do, the people I’ll see,
Without the leash of my baptism
Holding me back?
But I’ll tell you about it all
When I come back,
Honest, I will.

But see, God, I’m not a deserter, am I?
Like the ones in the Civil War,
And they’d shoot them right off . . .
It’s not like that, right?
Suppose I come back.
I have to; You know.
So I can tell you everything,
That’s what we do, remember?
Remember how I tell you everything?
So I will come back, if you’ll have me.

Could you, though, could you,
Maybe,
Maybe just keep an eye on things
And yank on my heart,
Or whatever you do,
Give it a tug
When it gets dangerous
Out in the wilderness?

Thanks, God.
Take care, hey.



Oh.
I’m back again.
I forgot that
You have my passport.

No, no, keep it.
I think I’ll stay here after all.

Am I hungry?
Oh, well rather.
You too?

As a matter of fact,
I’ve got some right here.
But the PopTarts are broken . . .
Is that ok?
And the juice kinda leaked . . .

posted by whistler @ 4/19/2007 08:01:00 a.m.