Alms from the Lost

In the cloistered shadows of a dark cathedral nave
where an ancient nun was kneeling at the corner of a grave
a prayer was softly spoken by a visitor to Rome --
he had some need of solace for he was so far from home.
The nun looked upward in surprise a traveller would come
to such a dusty corner of an altar to the One.
No penitent was this, she knew, as all her limbs went numb
with cold and flakes of frost now formed where ere before were none.
She tried to move to safety but her rosary beads chimed
against the marble flooring that the Church had wanted laid
“There is no need to fear me, my visits here are timed,”
said the voice, “now sister, pray, for the sinner’s souls you saved.”
And with that simple plea the lord called Lucifer was gone
with dollars on collection plates where hereto fore were none.

St Hubert's Altar in Oldbury