In a deserted scriptorium
amid the dusty scrolls
there works alone
a ghostly monk
moon-faced and sedulous
scratching his sempiternal script
with a dry quill
onto the pitted parchment
- senza sestertius.
Sedition with scrivener's palsy.
His shadow
may never grow less.
In midnight's fog
scullion soldiers oversee
the scrape and clank of shovels
- the gentle rattle of shackles.
At sunrise
the sharp-faced sexton
will toll the bell.
Servus servorum dei.
