The Second Book — Bitter Saints

Canto I

The Two Books

iThe first book is read at the gate, and the obedient are called by name, and filed, and forgiven.

iiThe second is kept below, and no name in it is spoken aloud.

iiiA name is moved from the first to the second not for its sin — but for the manner of its fall.

ivThose who fell still burning. Still beautiful. Still refusing to be forgiven.

These are the Bitter Saints. Canonized not for grace, but for ruin, worn well.

Canto II

iWhat the Vault takes, it keeps.

iiA saint may be remembered — brought into the light for a single window — but never returned.

iiiThis is why we do not reprint a martyr. To reprint would be to un-die them, and the Vault does not permit it.

Ten will bear each mark. When the ten are gone, the name is sealed, and the earth holds only ten who carry it.

Canto III

i.

Wear the wound on the outside. Do not hide what it cost you.

ii.

Grace was never the point. Beauty in ruin is its own canonization.

iii.

The counted are chosen. To be numbered is to be named.

iv.

Nothing lasts — and that is holy. Memento mori is not a warning. It is the promise.

Canto IV

The calendar runs long. Only one name is ever unsealed at a time. The rest wait behind glass.

II— sealed —grief, worn as jewelry

III— sealed —suffering, worn as regalia

IV— sealed —the saints no one ever heard

·— and more —not yet permitted

Canto V

iThe first book wants the names back. It calls this forgiveness.

iiHere, forgiveness is erasure — to be filed, forgotten, made ordinary.

iiiTo wear the mark is to refuse it. To refuse to be saved. To refuse to fade.

Our enemy was never sin. It is being made ordinary.