PREVIOUS TENANTS
Brutally murdered
Painfully silent
Mid-prayer
With trembling hands
At the altar as a sacrifice
Beneath the holy light
The choir still chants
As if their ‘innocence’ will suffice
As if the end will justify the means
As if blood can be washed clean
Their pleas grow stronger
The priest chokes on his sermon
The words he once held sacred
The audience praises like broken machines
With hollow mouths and empty eyes
And when the last note fades,
Silence hangs like smoke
Over what they’ve done.