Sisters of No Mercy

In a chalk-dust crypt in Sicily I saw them:

sisters of no mercy laid to rest

and buried with the merciful upon them,

old bones layered white on white.

How, after time, their body-wraps dissolve,

with insects picking clean old skin:

the stacked and musty skeletal remains

hide in abeyance in the vaulted dark.

The merciful had mercy in their hearts:

O blessed and beautiful their kindness

to themselves and to those sisters

who could not believe their own sweet hearts.