Susie’s Last Sunday (from “The Newsroom,” 2015)

Church mother among those slain in Charleston church massacre, Wednesday

You don’t live 87 years

without a good breakfast

on Sundays, I tend to eat a bit more

didn’t used to have biscuits

in my younger days

too hard to sing on a full stomach

I would sit in the choir stand

they’d say ‘Sister Jackson, angels fly from your lips’

now the old vocal chords

don’t rattle the way they used to

but Precious Lord, I’m still here

A church mother now

a member of the board

I know the walls of that church house so well

which floorboards creek the most

just how to flush that leaky toilet

I know the names of every patron

and what sisters have the best Sunday dinner gossip

I been ‘round these parts so long

it has become who I am

And Jesus

other churches

don’t fit me like this one

spent a Sunday away

just two weeks ago

to see my cousin off from school

I missed these pews

and my Bible

and the safety of Pastor’s cadence

and the choir of children

I groomed from birth

so glad to be in the service one more time

And he didn’t have to let me live

But I’m blessed once again

Bible study come this Wednesday

I will be here

front pew

like I always am

and I’ll be so glad to be in the service one more time