In the darkened halls etched with golden finery,
Do you admit the secrets they hold,
Shrouded in the shrouds of your jeweled cassocks?
.
For how many centuries has this debauchery been veiled?
How many unchaste Satans lay in your webbed catacombs,
Venerated by the ignorant and blind?
.
This is not an indictment of the faithful, the many tended sheep in your flock,
They are the innocent men and women…and child victims,
Venerated as martyrs before the universal mother.
.
Have you forgotten your roots, roots steeped in love and in service?
Not service to yourselves for its benefit, but service to the thirsty progeny
Who you’ve nourished with scandal and dust.
.
Knowingly, the devils amongst you receive shelter…You are evil as they!
You can not hide your sins from God Almighty, you immoral men!
Utter hypocrisy flows through your narrowed veins as sacramental wine.
Your restitution rings hollow…what of the innocence you’ve so ravaged?
Your treasures buy not your redemption– for the trustful can ne’er be whole again.
You vipers!…The solemnity of your vows lay thrashed by the Reaper.
.
Heads bowed on bended knee– tears for transformation fall with no retort.
They ask not for scriptural emendation, only boundness before the Lord.
In consumptive fashion, pomp preempts substance from this Cardinal clan.
.
What mold anewed will you lay before the disconsolate altar of the faithful?
Would it not be fair to portend that there will be nothing of substance to behold?
Only time will avow your voracity for change.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Well done–tragedy, and unconscionable–I love your phrase, “nourished with scandal and dust”–beautifully put horror.
Thank you so much. I wrote this one many months ago and was a little torn as to whether to post it or not, but I figured why not, it is the sad truth at least in my eyes.
“pomp preempts substance from this Cardinal clan” — beautifully written, but terrible. Great poem Dom
Thank you Jen, it most certainly is terrible.