Underpants and atheists

It was the 11th hour

Past breakfast, and just before lunch boxes

When you decided

Not to wear

Your clothes

Years ago, my brother

I would have held you down and

Bitten your ear

Until you complied

But I am now much older, and you

Very small

Staring down at you staring up

Arms akimbo

Your small frame rigid with

Certitude

I felt that biting might be

Off the table

Nanny’s have

Greater responsibilities than big sisters

Not to use force majeure

In robing, or

Disrobing

Tiny charges

I made a swift decision

Based on a complex history of

Oldest-sibling-large-family

Early child development

Bumper-to-bumper traffic patterns

Scrappy pluck

And crafty calculation

And I told you that if

You could not comply with

Decency

And good judgement

We would go to school

In underpants

You shook with the magnitude of

Decision

And forthrightly stood your ground

I must confess an admiration for your

Consistency

So into the car we went

Arms and legs flailing

Wrapped in a seatbelt

And staring in awe

At action and consequence

We drove to school in

Underpants

There was a moment there in the

Back seat

When I saw you watching the trees

And cars we passed

With a tremulous

Exploration

You had crossed into the

Unknown, the captain of your own

Destiny

And your bare skin

Was off the edge of reason

And into the

Weightless air of possibility

Your brother was

Envious

Trembling with the aftermath

Of adrenaline I helped you dress in the

Backseat of the car before

School

I had secretly brought your clothes

And you were so grateful

To put them on

Walking in with

A small bright plastic

Lunchbox

We shared a strange collusion

In the normality of our entrance

And ever-after a friendship

That is difficult to explain

Because I had not let you

Fail or fall or

Flounder alone at the

End

And I wonder sometimes if

This is how God

Thinks of

Atheists