there were peasant weavers,

potato-eaters, honesty,

joie de vie, rough-carved

textures, and a seriousness

about the tasks which

made up the day

In the body

you’d write stories,

allegories; while defrocked

the flock could yet be shown

before the service or

milling afterwards, but

never before the

altar

In your judgment

there would be passion, God,

goldenrod, devotion,

acute emotion,

pride, shame,

picture frames over the room

which you knew so well

that you painted each crack

in the floor from