We sacrifice the intellect to God.
-Ignatius Loyola
Enlightenment,
secular
humanism, freedom
of religion—nothing.
Even now, I can feel
that gossamer,
itchy something
irritating—
the stubborn,
stiff, outer
corners
of my existence;
feel it
tugging
at the very end
just as I
still can sense
that it
did
at the
beginning—
feel it, even
as I'm speaking,
pulling me
awful tight
and thick
and uncomfortably
constricted—
here
in the middle.