I’m afraid of this
Terrible question
Which eludes all chance
At description,

Attempting to tell
How it strangles
Hope’s neck
From a rope each day –

That faith
Always gasping for breath,

Religiousness
Hung on the gallows

Where desperate hands
Begin reaching
Around knots
Still choking these words.

It shames those thoughts
Fighting back,

Still obsessed
About publicly killing
Beliefs long held
But uncertain
If God is right there
By my side,

Tightening doubt
More defiant
Than life’s
Routine execution
Every time
We follow examples
Few agree
Are better ignored –

Some Messiah
Like seeking success,

Our salvation
Through phantom achievement,

Leading such whims
Across landscapes
Towards Calvary
Heaven forsakes.

No redeemer
Will stand alongside
False martyrs
Now bearing their crosses,

Knowing sinners
Deserve sickly penance

Since Christ left Earth
Long ago.

• J. Pigno