Six Days

By Gwen Knighton © 1999

Mama goes to circle, Grandma goes to mass,
My teacher's got the Ten Commandments posted in our class.
And when we study science, I don't know what to think,
This creation science story sounds so out of sync.

In six days, this god made the earth, all creatures, man and beast.
And he knows all about them from the greatest to the least.
They sprang straight from his mind, in just a hundred and forty-four hours,
The rocks, the rivers, and the fish, the forests and the flowers.

That's what they teach us in school,
They say god made the universe.
They tell us that we're not related to beasts,
But my Dad says my school runs in reverse.

The prayer group meets in the cafeteria after our lunch break.
I sit out on the fringes
with the spazzes and the fakes. I go because the others go; if you don't go, you're a freak.
And I bow my head with the rest of them, but inside I feel weak.

In six days, this god made the earth,
the jock the nerd, the geek.
He's so great, he made all this stuff in just under a week.
If you don't ask him for forgiveness,
you're in an awful mess,
And you'll be headed straight to hell in a handbag marked "express."

That's what they teach us in school,
They say not repenting is a crime.
But my mother says I don't need their rebirth,
'Cause she got it right the first time.

Mama goes to Circle, she dances with the sky,
My Dad's a Unitarian; his favorite question is "why?"
My teacher says they both are wrong, her god's the only one,
And I think I'm the battleground this war is fought upon.

In just six days my teacher's god made sky and sea and land,
And she thinks every one of us is in that same god's hand.
But I remember back before they passed that resolution
That hushed up evolution with a Biblical solution.

That's what they teach us in school.
Five days out of seven, I hear my folks are fools.
Mom and Dad say faith is in the heart,
it's not a battle to be won,
But I think I'm the battleground this war is fought upon.
Mom and Dad say faith is in the heart,
it's not a battle to be won,
But I think I'm the battleground this war is fought upon.