Ignatius

            boy-soldier

            hoodlum courtier

            day-old dreamer

smashed up good in war

            convalescent convert

            cannonball Christian

            crippled companion

with a knack for re-routing attacks

lend us your gift for woundedness

that turns a shot around

then takes its aim at holiness

think of all the saints

you could socialize

if only you hobbled now into Syria

and taught the fallen your techniques

we’ve got sufficient lead and bloodshed

to gild the whole world

with your inside-out-going

alchemy.