Alone in a church

a cough returning as an echo
in this cold medieval church

a thousand years of coughing
where despair is hanging
in the windows’ dust

a madonna who appears
to shut her ears and look away
is staring through your skull

thick grief in here for you
can cut it with a knife
sinking deeper down yourself

the outside world a murmur of the past
a thousand coughs come from the graves
are known and given comfort