(describes the experience of many LGBTQI churchgoers)

Oh the joys I have seen –
Marriages, baptisms, seemingly happy people.

People usually do not see me, I stand in the shadows, behind doors, behind walls, sheltering in the cloak room.

Sometimes a morsel of a communion wafer finds its way to me and I so love when the church has a picnic on the grounds – a feast to behold.

Yet no one notices me scurrying to and fro
getting every morsel I can.
Morsels that sustain me
while I shelter away.

Sometimes screaming and yelling goes on a bit-
I am terrified and I hide
What are these people doing?

Why on earth could that be something in a church-
Not joyous, not happy, just anguish and pain and sadness.

Lord – all of us belong
All of us warrant love
Even I, the church mouse