“Sanctuary’s Echo”
(A song of lost faith)
I lit the flame at Mary's feet,
Whispered sins I swore to beat.
My knees were bruised from chapel stone,
But still I prayed, and felt alone.
The incense curled like serpent smoke,
While shepherds wore a gilded cloak.
They fed on wine and whispered lies,
Behind stained glass and alibis.
[And oh, I miss the sanctuary,
The Latin chants, the rosary.
But I can’t kneel beneath the veil,
Where truth was sold and silence nailed.
I walked away with shattered creed,
My soul still aches, but not with need.]
They spoke of grace and holy light,
But turned their backs on wrong and right.
A thousand lambs left in the cold,
While wolves wore robes and rings of gold.
Confession's door still calls my name,
But mercy there feels much like shame.
And every Ave I once said
Now echoes through a faith long dead.
[And oh, I miss the sanctuary,
The echoed hymn, the sanctuary.
But I can’t bow to broken thrones,
Or call that marble heart my home.
I left the pews with bleeding feet
My faith undone by their deceit.]
[[I see the saints with watching eyes,
Trapped in their painted, holy skies.
They cannot speak, they cannot weep
For all the vows they could not keep.]]
Baptized in fire, raised in fear,
I drank their blood year after year.
But now I taste the bitter truth,
The body broke, and so did youth.
I long for bells at break of day,
But not the lies they washed away.
I’d sing again if I believed
But not while angels stand aggrieved.
[And oh, I miss the sanctuary,
That sacred hush, that solemn sea.
But I won’t trade my soul for peace,
Or bow to thrones that shield the beast.
I walk the wild, I bear the scar
And grace, if real, will meet me far
Beyond the reach of altar flame
Still whispering His holy name.