Acolyte

Lonely in the vast hall the statue shivers

Mountains glitter around the lofty pinnacle

Rarely visited by human steps.

 

A solitary worshipper guards the shrine

His predatory eyes search the distance

As he invokes the goddess, silently gesturing.

Wait!

Looking deep into his soul he breathes in and out

Singing love poems and following the high priestess

With bruised hungry gaze until hell freezes over.

Demons come to devour perilous thoughts

But leave the devout to his painful devices.

 

The miracle of adoration expressed in his pure clear voice

Reverberates off glazed walls and long tunnels

Preserving the delicate balance of a frail world:

Such the servant remains expanded in air

Dead to the world in an eternity that

Mirrors the statue in his brown eyes

 

From Persona Grata e non Grata

 

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© HMH, 2012

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