saint

artificial nimbus glowing behind her head,

she takes her staff and knights herself

once for chastity, twice for obedience.

unseen is the charred heart in its iron cage,

a heart blackened with the succulent sins

of a life lived in deliberate ignorance.

in private she prays for deliverance,

yet when she awakes, she turns and

lusts. and fornicates. and succumbs.

the call to sin is tasty, ever satiating.

her nimbus flickers against a greying sky.