Faith

Each door opened
onto blood.
The clothes dripped blood,

the armor, the jewels
steeped in blood.
Even the flowers,

when one snapped
their fresh stems,
seeped a thin and pale blood.

Still, she opened
more and ever more doors
and whispered

His love knows
just such violent love.
I dream in symbols,

nothing more.
She paused
before the sixth door,

the metal of its lock flat
and dulled from little use.
The key turned,

but reluctantly.
Inside, the only blood she saw
colored the low sun.

A vast salt sea
swept
toward the distant edge

of her determined vision.
The Sea of Tears,
her voice said

into the emptiness.
The final door
would seal

the contract and her fate.
She knew
here would she find

his many other loves,
and all, all dead. But
there was nothing

in this room
and as she stood
in the unwavering dark,

his long hair draped
along her cheek,
she gave back

his several keys,
then closed her eyes
and heart.