I Shall

Fence post impales bloodied skulls,
wind carries death moans,
barbed wire boundaries
dangling with gruesome pieces of flesh,
concentration camp stench
burning nostrils and gut.

Speakers blare their cursing oratory
swearing salvation has to kill
in order to redeem.

Gaunt body anguishes over terror,
flagellation nights leave wicked lasting scars.
Hands cuffed to treadmill crawling with vipers,
drinking toxic waste pop
to help numb their venom.

Knowing dawn will bring only darkness
falling into a crypt fill with putrid ashen mucus
having no future, mind paralysis
becomes a gospel.

Until a single light from love's phantom
whispers other than death into the soul,
rising in a breath having no fear of the mirage,
leaving it in the closet
walking out the door
smiling in the renovation of pulse
softly spoken in the words,
"I shall."