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Church basements in Paris;
The hundred steeples of Rouen;
extensions of cathedral crypts;
and burial chambers below basilicas;
the Church of Saint-Ouen
(bones, Danse macabre,
and carcasses carved in stone)
in The Aitre Saint-Malcou.
I can no longer part Goths from ghosts
nor find a compass for compassion.
Human horror kept my eyes wide open.
Tell La Morena that I am right here,
that I kept silent, that I am beginning
to feel useful and happy
with the calm exaltation
I share with these roots.