The Tax Collector

I have always
said I work

for the government.
St. Matthew the Apostle

was one of us, a tax collector.
I know where the taxes go,

how they flow
to build parks and bombers,

staff post offices and clinics,
fill schools and jails,

stage plays and coups,
stock libraries and trout streams,

to fund military bands, moonshots,
mundane records and miracle cures.

St. Matthew gave up
his safe government job,

to roam the world, to preach
about a better world,

to write stories,
to work for a miracle worker.

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