In Heaven With One Foot And On Earth With Another Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

I walk on one leg on this earth
For the other is somewhere else.
Only one shoe gets worn out and
Ends up with holes in it. I walk
On for I have one pair of feet.
Ask me not to take this shoe to
The village cobbler for he always
Claims he cannot just fix one shoe
He needs both for he must balance
The heels.

I tell him go stop kidding me
For I know that he just wants
Money. He says I must not talk
As if I am the son of the one
Legged god. For in his world
Like him all his people have
One leg. His saints have one
One leg and they hop around
On it when they serve mass.

The spills that happen mean nothing
For to serve perpetual sinners is
Worse than standing before God
Pleading for serial sinners who
Will be back the following week asking for more of the same. It is like you never walked away.

That your one foot should be on earth
While another is in heaven is to stop
The door of heaven from closing for
If angels had to open it each time The priest knocked nobody would get There. For God would get tired of the Repentant he forgives always and Simply close the door once and for All. What a miserable world it would Be for our sins would hang on us like Spanish moss does on a tree. They
Would sway in the wind and plague us with a hopelessness that would please the devil.

So thank me and the priest for having one
Foot here and the other there. Thank us
For we will never stand at attention and
Do it for us for one good turn deserves
Another.