Through reading,

a man found a saint

he adored and planned

to make a statue

in her honor.

She had endured  

much pain.

The holy woman

prayed, fasted

and cured the ill.

She wore an itchy shirt

of goat’s hair to atone

for guilt. The man

struggled to bring

a chunk of marble

from a mine in Italy.

For years, he built  

a monument to pain.

He chipped the stone

with sharp instruments.

His hands tired of

the long trek up and

down the spine. He  

labored over limbs.  

Carving the saint’s

head was torture.

He copied her hair  

shirt from a book.

He wove his own

then, in love with  

the punished look.

By Sarah Henry

From: United States