Cold confort

A spirit rose from the earth Slowly leaving... Their candle-flame lonely, and so needing Like dust in the night the prayers rise Under the sick image of Christ They talk to the nothingness Old wounds were never mended Something drops from the (autumn) leaves Again it rains: In a dry corner, salvation again declines Sleep like a skull in the hard ground Nothing for ears nothing for eyes Without a shadow, waiting for nothing The dark room, the moist tenement (of earth) The cold kiss of release, great light He was never man enough In a world of cruel faces He discovered that he was never man enough He discovered nothing Far above and beyond... All in the name of god The eyes refused to look ahead...