Scott Simpson · Poetry

Rotten Cores

Restoration Blues · source pages 17

The original line breaks, stanza spacing, and placement are preserved. Long lines scroll horizontally.

Source page 17

Rotten Cores

We smiled wide for the photos,

sent newsletters full of metrics and baptisms,

wrote reports in clean columns—

souls saved, dollars given.

But the rot had spread at the core—

bitterness, gossip, fear of losing control.

We spoke in tongues of righteousness,

but the Spirit left the room years ago,

tired of the charade.

Fruit rotted on branches,

the leaves so green, so full,

a tree from which no one ate.