{ Traci Brimhall & Brynn Saito: The Temple. }

[delga]

The Temple
by Traci Brimhall & Brynn Saito

The spires are lit by a low flame. Behind you,
a chorus of lamentations in the dark.
Approach the temple’s wide gate and begin

praying to the living. Be with the mystery
that cloaked itself in images.
The teeth missing from the saint’s skull

are collected on a string. Wear them close
to your thin body. When last were you beckoned
to the wilderness for a terror to behold

and resist? You could have been anything,
but you have been chosen to walk through the gate
as the world’s only daughter, aglow with solitude

and held up by a lean hope. Remove from your body
the desire for a useful love, and the plague
of angels will no longer haunt you. Only a fool

can tell the king the truth, and you lie to survive,
like everything mysterious. When your right hand
rises to the center of your chest to join the left

you find you have forgotten to kneel.
How can you hope to hear the howling that is God
when nothing around you is on fire?