Within its grasp
she knows this is her god,
like she knows other bats
have two wings.

She stills as it commands all
heights and depths;

she gazes at the one who reaches
down from above—

a god who vacillates between
impersonal and personal,

a provider of mealworms and singer
of mysterious calls,

a god who doesn’t always answer
when she wants,

a god who makes decrees for her
without a reason,

a god who sometimes forces
her fragile hand.

Verily, she receives
a more sure word of prophecy,
for she knows this is a god
she didn’t choose.

Poet’s Notes:

The featured image is of an evening bat at the Lubee Bat Conservancy, photographed by Jake Christensen.

For a scriptural tie-in, the phrase “more sure word of prophecy” comes from Doctrine and Covenants 131:5 and the Second Epistle of Peter 1:19.