Hail Mary,
Full of grace.


Watch this
Life with faded brilliance,
Where vessels once filled
Are empty jars that reverb hollowness


Dreams—unattainable.
Futility—sustainable.


Life with excess and emptiness,
Fill the void with insubstantiality.
We satiate hunger with sawdust
And thirst with diuretics

Drowning in air

And high-pitched, grating noises
Forced cawing laughter
Gritted grinding smirks


Earth blue and earth green rosary beads
Captured in a moment of light
Rich and glowing are
A beckoning window into a better existence


Holy Mary,
Mother of God
Pray for us sinners


We poor banished children


Now
and at the hour
of our death