Shadows ghost the cathedral walls.
Dove patterns. Elevated martyr patterns
surround bone fragment reliquaries.
Prayers scrape teeth and lips encrusted by fright feathers.
The fallen’s footsteps solidify white candles,
print post-Revelations prophetic verses,
fill the baptismal font,
fill the eucharist plate and cup.
The congregation’s emotional scars
glow cardinal red as the sensor swings
holy smoke. Forest smoke
still darkens the saintly leaded glass pictographs.
Houseless foundations shout Winter emergency,
flail words toward the keyhole of deniers ears.
copyright © 2019 Kenneth P. Gurney
