The classes I attended today <br />Were French, Victorian Literature, and math <br />But no one learned anything <br />Because no one really learns at college <br /> <br />Outside on the streets <br />White Christians held signs condemning many: <br />Revilers, homosexuals, adulterers, thieves, etc. <br />I would have just walked by <br /> <br />But a seventeen-year-old boy stopped me <br />And handed me a pamphlet <br />And I told him I didn't want one <br />But he insisted <br /> <br />I told him I am an Indian <br />And though I find religion beautiful <br />I find it a little hard <br />To find God in a white world <br /> <br />He told me that the Indians were a blessed people <br />He said we will live in the Kingdom of Heaven <br />If we renounce our sins <br />And accept Jesus Christ into our hearts <br /> <br />I asked what sins he meant <br />Besides the usual ones <br />(Drinking, smoking, being born a woman, you know the drill) <br />What should I renounce? <br /> <br />He told me to renounce our wars <br />To renounce our drinking <br />To renounce our gambling <br />To renounce our abuse <br /> <br />I threw his pamphlet on the ground <br />And took a step toward him <br />My newly-bald head uncovered <br />When my jacket's hood fell to my shoulders <br /> <br />'You have taken our land <br />You have taken our languages <br />You have taken everything you wanted <br />And you think you are giving me a gift? <br /> <br />I don't want your gift <br />I don't want your sympathy <br />I don't want your help <br />And I don't want your God.' <br /> <br />He looked at me with sadness <br />And told me he wished I weren't going to hell <br />And I told him thanks for his concern <br />But that I wasn't his concern<br /><br />Laura Kiernan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/true-story-3/
