13. The Black Crayon
The Black Crayon is about a child sent to Sunday school with nothing but a black
crayon — the other children had taken the rest — who colored the Savior black and
was dragged into the hallway by a nun and called a demon, only to return home to
a man who smiled and said "even they agree."
By Thomas J. Allen, © 2026
Spoken Word
He sent me to the church... to sit among the pews.
The other children took the colors. Left me only black.
Just a single black crayon. A world devoid of light.
So I colored the Savior black... no other choice in sight.
Verse 1
Sitting in the Sunday school. Quiet, broken child.
Watching all the holy ones, completely reviled.
Colors taken from the box. Ticking of the clocks.
Echoing inside the chapel. Unforgiving space.
I only had the black... asking for His grace.
Pre-Chorus
The sadistic sister saw it, calling me evil names.
Dragging me to the hallway to burn me in her shame.
Looking at me with terror, hiding from her face.
Like she saw what lay beneath me... stripped of all the grace.
Chorus
She called me a demon, screamed it in my face.
Standing in the hallway, cast out of their place.
"He is just a child," the priest had tried to plainly state.
But she was blind inside her faith, dictating my false fate.
They handed me the shadows, they handed me the night.
Then blamed me for the darkness... when they stole the light.
Verse 2
Statue worshipers of creation. Not the Creator's hand.
Bowing down to Mary. Houses on the sand.
Sadistic as the man with the fangs. I see it in them all.
With his photo plates of Popes... hanging on the wall.
Mercy has no dwelling here. Cult rituals.
Cast out by the pagans. Treating me like the fool.
Removed from the sanctuary, pushed out in the cold.
Returned to the vampire, exactly as foretold.
Chorus
She called me a demon, screamed it in my face.
Standing in the hallway, cast out of their place.
"He is just a child," the priest had tried to plainly state.
But she was blind inside her faith, dictating my false fate.
They handed me the shadows, they handed me the night.
Then blamed me for the darkness... when they stole the light.
Bridge
I walked back through the door.
The old man looked at me with his fangs.
He smiled his wicked smile.
"You're a demon," he whispered. "Even they agree."
Verse 3
They cast me to the monster, threw me to the beast.
Where the old man was waiting to resume his wicked feast.
Worshiping creation, ignoring the Creator's weight.
Surviving in the darkness, refusing their false fate.
Chorus
She called me a demon, screamed it in my face.
Standing in the hallway, cast out of their place.
They handed me the shadows, they handed me the night.
Then blamed me for the darkness... when they stole the light.
Outro
I only had a black crayon.
Because they took the rest away.
I colored the Savior black...
Because they stole the light of day.