Drowning

A poem about rejecting dogmas

Krishna was my ancestor
Muhammad, they said, would be my saviour.
My tribe held me close-
The only home I had known

But I had to leave it,
before its waters pulled me under

Mathematics took my hand.
Other books followed.
I walked another road,
and cast the prayer mat aside

We are always reaching for light.
I was reaching for truth.
Darwin carried us nearer to it.
For a while, I lived in Jesus’s world.

But Church and Science stood apart.
That divide became my new religion.
I thought I had found a purpose -
It had only found another tribe.

Hold me.
I am drowning again.