Essay:And Now She Rots
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Composed upon a view of an abandoned Lutheran church in the woods of northern Minnesota.
- The old church sags within the grove,
- whose branches bend to touch her sides.
- Atop the rose carved o'er the door
- an untamed cobweb now abides.
- The rising rust leaves ruddy streaks
- and peels the paint about her cross.
- Her gutter's clogged with autumn leaves,
- and in her crypt grows mold and moss.
- O Germans, faring through the wood,
- be sure ye mark that clearing well.
- For there once sang the ancient cult
- that pulled your fathers back from hell.
- But then ye left her there to die,
- were "born again" and tied new knots.
- Ye chose salvation over hell,
- but that's no choice. And now she rots.