the last place she wanted to be was the belfry
      the last person she wanted to see was the Father
                and yet both were present

    she hung her legs over the rafters, like she used to do
             the sermon about love and trust
           and she squeezed Vivien’s hand tight
                 her legs swinging beside hers

             where else would a raven be but in the wings –

           she was not angry, incensed, or enraged
                no, this was a promise,
              her blessing, nothing more than laundry to bring in from the storm;

     he didn’t expect her
               though he used to expect everything
mother rid you of that notion, I suppose –

          and shied in disgust when she whispered her lips across
                the raven’s wings with a sly smile
I forgot you were ignorant, too

         his shouting burned into pleading
           while life and death pulled him back and forth
                    they were incorruptible, invincible
                an angel’s gift had set them free –

           a pastor’s vestments had tried to leave behind sins of his bloodied hands
               but she spat all the truths he had buried in a tomb
          of a good man –

you’re lying, he’s gone! you couldn’t know –

oh but Father, I do –

                               the roundabout affair before the cross,
                  the desks of the mothers sullied by her mother
                     photos of a converging of evils
                    left dangling in the fingers of her father’s heart
            and the breaking that ensued after
he had been too gentle for the Babylon woman –
                she could still hear the break in his voice, before he had gone to sleep
I had loved her, once …
                            the father would repent before the daughter of death

            her only regret was her ring catching on his cheek
                   an alcohol bath later to scrub God from her presence
               and they left him in the belfry,
                   where the ravens could decide his fate before the eyes of his deity

                  his soul’s discontent would bear the patriarch’s misery to peace
             as they crossed paths between heaven and hell
                        and she would personally ensure purgatory was ready
                        with a do not enter sign