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.