Burnish

we are not

the shiny gold star stickers

we once earned

for spelling a word right

or adding two numbers correctly

now we sweat and strain

and we are always looking up

so that our tears stain

our bodies

which never stop

we are climbing the mountain

and we don't even know where it ends

all we see is the cloud

and we are told that it is heaven

but we don't even know

is this faith

any stranger

than believing in god?