GODCLEANFUN

I plead, O Lord, for thine patience, eternal. For I, a servant within thy sanctuary; a child bred by belief, have sacrificed thine favour and turned mine tongue against thee. And if my breath offends the divine, know it was wrought by thine own hand, O Sovereign. Thou taught me to obey, and named the cost devotion; I kneel only because you taught me to fall. Blessed be the name that provided such language and made it later forbidden. I submit to the lawgiver, O Lord. I consume his conviction even as my hunger is punished and now, as by your jurisdiction, I lie upon thy floor. Upon the clear and trembling skin thereof, where water and hyssop are made they sacrament. Thou callest this cleansing and I stake thy creed as ritual for virtue. Yet, the cold bites, the sheet smothers and my limbs betray me under its weight. If this be purity, then purity is cruel. If this be virtue, it presses hard upon the chest. Still, I obey, O Lord. I endure this ache. How long shall I lay, soaked and wanting, until they renounce my stain? If I tremble, it shall not be claimed as defiance. If I submit upon this ground, emptied and small, let it be counted righteous.