the missionary

crouching down to
“get on the same level” as the child standing before her/him,
with one hand brushing away a few flies that have
nestled themselves in the hair of the kid
as the sun beats down
burning & burning, for the child at this time
wears no sunscreen, wears no shirt,
standing there almost completely naked---
struggling to understand the broken language
spewing from the missionary’s mouth,
s/he realizes, even at such a young age,
that this person probably spent a year at best
learning the language native to this part of the world &
what they did learn to say,
outside the common everyday functional phrases,
were words, sentences & translation of the
“holy scripture”
so as to form the basis here for a
“christian way of life”
in a land of complete & utter poverty, disease, unbridled warfare &
outright chaos.

what babbling gobbledegook must seem to flow
from the mouth of the eager missionary
(as the child sees the lips move)
wanting to get another notch in their belt,
while at the same time feeling as if they are doing a good thing,
that they are living the way that a fictional character in a book supposedly written
thousands of years ago
would have them do---
it must be like when a dog comes to the kitchen
licking its lips,
wanting nothing but to be fed
&
the owner babbles baby-dog talk to them
ruffling their fur with hands &
itching the belly,
then, with treat in hand,
dangles it in front of them
literally asking them to beg,
roll over, jump up, or
sit like a good dog should.