Mercy rains upon this eve,

Scorching my skin, yet I refuse to leave,

Searching for purity, however temporal.

Scrubbing this being to the bone,

Only within this moment alone

I'm free to be, for flight or fall.

Solely in the sanctity of solitude

Are we ever truly nude,

Allowing a purge of precedence.

I'm fully conscious this cannot last,

For wretched rags of the past

And future lie mere moments away.

A haunting reality within ritual

Reveals the rhythm of it all,

For despite blessed recompense,

I walk in waste every day.