Never Know Who Might Be Listening
Jim met an old friend
from college days long
after both retired.
They were classmates
on the beautiful campus
of a small religious school.
Tuition was low,
the people were nice and
the academics were good.
No one knew
they weren’t believers.
Both had kept that quiet.
But now in old age Bill
had found God and it was
driving his friend Jim nuts.
What happened to you,
Jim asked and Bill said it
happened after his wife died.
Someone told him to pray
to a God who might be there.
Bill figured it couldn’t hurt.
One night he woke up
startled in his recliner.
He had become a believer.
Be careful who you talk to,
Bill told Jim, Never know
who might be listening.
Donal Mahoney has worked as an editor for U.S. Catholic Magazine, Loyola University Press, and The Chicago Sun-Times. Retired now, he keeps busy writing poetry, fiction and nonfiction. One of the most important aspects of “freedom” for him is freedom of religion and the opportunity in this country to practice it or not practice it. Some of his work can be found at http://eyeonlifemag.com/the-poetry-locksmith/donal-mahoney-poet.html#sthash.OSYzpgmQ.dpbs=