POEM - Hard to be Good in Church

I come from an old school

And a history seeped in religion

My culture is less

Country of origin

Than it is 

Church of membership

I've been here all along

Just like my father 

And his father 

And his father

And maybe a few more

And it gets hard to be good

I'm not implying any mortal sin

It just gets hard to behave

In an acceptable way

One would expect

A middle-aged

Father of five

To behave

Sequestered 

In the pews

As I am

And organ music triggers this odd response

A desire to succumb

To a power supreme

That encourages me

Forcibly

To nod my head

But I have gotten better about it

Barely ever drool anymore

But I have to do something

And I have to distract my youngest

Or he'll kick and squirm

And drive someone crazy

And isn't it cool

All the weird designs

The gum makes 

That I squished between the folds of the program

And then gently pulled back apart

I know church is not the place

For artistic experiment

But it looks so cool

And he is entertained

And my head hasn't nodded once