let out your darlings gently
and remember them as
quiet ammo you silently  
tucked into your gun
lonely and tired
in the thick brush of
your musket room,

remain silent silent silent
and hear the metal clang
against the barrel wall,
until your finger becomes
too heavy with its exotic ache
and you fire it off
into the distance

and watch the white smoke rising,
heralding the new pope
within you,

let out your darlings gently