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Sport 39: 2011
Penitential Villanelle
Penitential Villanelle
A drumming in my ear from the devil’s winds.
Like flogging, but Satan does not relent.
Only one way forward, preceded by my sins.
Processional, penitential, singing hymns.
The sullen rain no longer relevant.
A drumming in my ear from the devil’s winds.
A bleak morning after the storm, it skins
us pilgrims, poor believers, now impotent.
Only one way forward, preceded by our sins.
Claims lie heavy on me, pinning my limbs
so now my punished heart is hesitant,
my ears battered by the devil’s winds.
Belief forces me to expose tomorrow’s twins,
that lazy pair called fear and cant.
Only one way forward, preceded by my sins.
Left to my own devices, all hope dimmed.
Sackcloth and ashes, the sky indolent
and singing to me of the devil’s winds.
Only one way forward, preceded by my sins.