I was patiently waiting for a tow-truck out by
The front of a North Hollywood church
As I was asked this by a young and intense man
Who seemed on a mission or a search.
(A Native American messiah was a novel idea
But it did seem just a bit far afield
Like Superman switching teams and signing a
Multi-year contract with S.H.I.E.L.D.)
He left before I could give an answer. Was this
A routine question, just a faith assertion,
Or (looking back over thirty years later) perhaps
His modest effort at conversion?
If it was the latter, I’ve concluded his casual
Scheme hadn’t at all succeeded
Because he didn’t even try to win me over by
Promising something I needed.
That’s how converts are born – shelter is offered
To homeless people who’d
Then eagerly accept any God, just like the hungry
Would do when offered food.
He could’ve wound up with a much different result
That would have turned the tables
If he had noticed my car with the hood up and then
Said that his Lord had jumper cables.