The Patron of Purgatory
By Philip C. Kolin - Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA - 27 August 2015
for St. Tolentino
taper thin as the dawn
you emptied yourself
to be filled with God
who at the Consecration
brought souls to you
hungry for the light
and you heard
their famished cries,
blind mouths begging for
a star above the altar
you could see them
dark flowers, rotting fruit.
then you blessed
each one by name
and saw them fly
toward heaven --
dismembered now
your outstretched arms
still free souls caught
in the kingdom between
bread and ashes.