loathsome thoughts
a reformatory in the mind,
bound like the legion man in Mark,
chafing the defective soul,
salient signpost
built of illuminated neon,
a trove to the representation
in cheval glass,
a jejune life from
first breath to recent steps,
the submerged pining to feel treasured,
to be embodied with friendship and family,
had found youths tracks
toward church taken in err,
an unknown spiritual slaughter,
where isolation behind
a fieldstone wall
beneath obese thunderclouds
hid the spirit of rejection,
time held drumfire to the revelation
drawn from words on a morning sought
to be lounged in sweats,
where clinched jaw
and backhand swipes at the eyes
could not withhold the despondency
being vanquished by His presence,
moments humbled with grace
for the soul to come alive again,
in His arms
the loathsome thoughts
evaporate to those of eucharistia.