we have a tendency to accumulate

accolades or convictions

these are our badges

the trinkets we wave about

to prove

we are real

when in reality they are

like the trees killed for nothing

mashed into currency, identification, memos

incinerated as our great buildings crash

and fall

so close to Neil deGrasse Tyson

who still cannot hear Jesus

render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar

and what belongs to God

unto God