Brass rings with echoes
                    showers heavy metal petals
                                        its peals throw below
all notice of the chaos of
                                        this village where none
                    atone for sins, where no one knows
                                        the name of the rose

singing bowls sending out fragrant
                                        delegations those
                    with hollow but hungry souls trust
                                        will warm their vacant
ravenous caverns of gaping
                                        mouths, filling them by
                    piercing their ears, a feast of coals

                                        searing on their tongues
rusting to blush those unspoken
                                        truths false modesty
                    brushes off and lies paint over
                                        licks celebrating
without compromise what prudent
                                        lips resist sp(l)itting

                    breaking their sacred seal not when
                                        but only if, those
who hunger for wisdom’s gift stop
                                        speaking and listen
                    banqueting instead on its haul
                                        of whispers, burning
revelations, flagrant tapers

                                        torching outmoded
                    tomes, f(l)avouring heads with knowledge
                                        at once ancient and
ageless, a song ending this world’s
                                        illusions not with
                    a bomb but a kiss, sick sounds and
                                        visions a pox of

lips cures, melting like wax what ill
                                        makes of existence
                    confusing mountains, its less-than-
                                        thrilling challenges
insurmountable images
                                        cleansed of their haze, dripped
                    from wounds into clouds of incense.