Empire! Empire! (I was A Lonely Estate)
Foxfire
I became an atheist the Junior year of my spring semester in college

My friend from back home moved into our already crowded two-bedroom apartment
That now housed four
And five when Cathy would move in later that year

He was unyielding and used logic
Like a hammer or a martyr
And would hurl question after question across the four-foot gap
Between his mattress and mine

It absolved me of any last remaining doubt

There was a certainty that finally settled in
That had been torn open during my freshman year
Over a course in Cultural Anthropology

I am comfortable knowing that this is it

There is so much more beauty in a life that also has death