One bright blue day I'm wasting time when 

I hear a red and alien word:

Atheist

Him 

Son

Trouble

Heaven 

I creep downstairs, Mom's outside

On one of those

Science

Doubt

Religion

Chairs and she's rocking back and forth

Talking to herself or perhaps 

Years

When we 

found out, it

took us a while to

Accept 

She's on the phone. With who? Why?

My brother? Since when?

Since

2006. That's

How long

We've known.

And ten years later, I stood behind that screen door

Hearing those words for the first time,

Wondering why it would be such a crime to 

Tell your daughter that her brother

Is an 

Atheist