forty steps in the town church to spire height.
we ran away                                                                                                    
after communion

watching pigeons roost.

sawdust settled on stained glass.

sat with the stigmata in the pit of me.                                                          

your eyes aloft
to the beams where Christ
laid bare

coveting
the beauty in a man.                                                                                        
and learning
boys wish would it grace them.


       i did not think to ask you if you felt the same                  
        i did not know how.