So too this shall pass,
Or so they sayeth.

Yet to hearken, to endure
Beyond these walls
Of mortal mass.

How deep thy spiral beckons,
Thy prayer of ascent,
A refusal to make amends.

On my knees before thy Lord,
“Be gone, heathen!” they pray.

Yet collateral pain
Erupts in choir
Of disease and human desire.

Thou keep’st me here imprisoned,
Nay, I say, chained in blissful state.

I feast upon ill will
And treacherous thoughts,

Evil spells and forbidden crafts,
The culprit of plague and drought, thou dost claim.

Unbeknownst to me these faces be,
Figures with torches
Are all that ye are.

As I beg of thee,
Naught but to leave me be.

You speak of my blood,
My blood,
My blood.

’Tis in you
Evil I see.

’Tis you
Who have hollow eyes,
Not I,
Who appear in harrowed sight.

Not I
Who froth at mouth,
It is you
Who gobble flesh
In delight.

’Tis you who crawl along
Like wasteful beasts,
A plague that spreads,
Ye that walk on all four.

’Tis not angels,
Nor Christ,
That your Lord abides,

But death and more death
To suffice your demise.

Of the flesh you say I so desire,
Yet you crave
At every breath.

’Tis your mortal eyes,
So blind by deceit,
That long to see
Me hung in wire.

At last,
At last,
The flame you so admire.

Now brought upon this hill
Of eternal fire.

“Set ablaze the demon!” they roar.
To burn the beast in chains asunder,
The wildfire soars and crawls,
O’er limbs of infernal blame,
To make the beast yield and surrender.

“To reap,
And slay,
Is all thou dost desire.”, I say.

Through thy hellish flames,
I rise out of naught,
Amidst the ashes you so admire.

My wings shoot out and spread.
Thou lackest awe,
Still caught and wrangled,
By hatred’s hollow thread.

As I ascend,
The maw of thy desolate mire,

Toward heaven’s spire.