I paid you
with religion
in small denominations
I bribed you
with paradise
at the doorway to your emotional arsenal
flatly refusing to cut a deal with desperation
flatly refusing to pay the ransom that might provide
some illusory freedom
I invented lost passages of scripture
to reverse the clock of the conqueror
then slowly
you saw things my way
the relentless path of no way
of no sound
no stirring
no God.