Seven dark prodigals approached in the night,
saying: “One has escaped and
journeyed into the light”

Seven dark prodigals with shadows now gone,
longed for he who had left them
—for he who was strong

Seven dark prodigals wandered the dark,
no safety in numbers,
in search of their heart

“We must look till he’s found,” I heard two of them
say,
seven sins unforgiven
—the eighth gone astray

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)