For today’s challenge I have used both paintings proposed by Paul Brookes, Terry Chipp’s Katrina in the monastery and Marcel Herms’ Devils in disguise.

Our Ladies of Assumption

People aren’t always who they say they are,
places aren’t always what they seem,
a smile does not always mean pleasure,
and sanctuary is not where we think to look.

Colour is not an indication of integrity,
and wealth means nothing more than privilege.
Sin is a figment of the imagination,
but misery is real, hunger hurts.

She sits in the cloistered quiet,
dressed in virginal white,
the collection box bursting with her offering.
In the street, children scratch for worms.

In the street, children scrabble, and
the painted prostitute dabs her eyes,
hands them her hard-won cash.

Small hands flutter in thanks like birds,
the world turns,
and the box, shaken,
rolls the same dice.