The Burning

Fire begins to sear your feet
Leather straps they bind you fast
You’re burning

Stripped of all your clothing
Fastened to a wooden stake
Last chance to confess your sins
Though the punishment remains

Fear the burning
Can’t endure the burning

Slowly heated from below
Judgement passed, you will not last
But death approaches slow

Accused of many crimes
By people you thought you knew
Dragged into a courtroom
And told that the devil lives in you

Tried to deny it was futile
Was a worthless waste of breath
They put you on the rack
And stretched your bones until you confessed

Pain, blinding
This scalding heat
But this fire is too small to kill
Smell your own cooking meat

Feel the burning
Can’t endure the burning

The rising heat is wilting your hair, blisters your skin
Legs stiffening as the muscles bake, hardening within

Your blackening skin ruptures
Fluids oozing through
Rolling down, a sputtering sound
A steaming bloody human stew

Pain, blinding
This scalding heat

Know the burning
Won’t endure the burning