Title: Corporal Mortification
Fandom: The Da Vinci Code
Characters: Silas, The Archangel Gabriel
Summary: A poem about pain, spirituality and angelic visions
Rating: Mature for violent themes
POV: Silas
Disclaimer: Don't own anything here, no profit, suing is futile!
A/N: The imagery of Gabriel in this poem comes from an old Christmas carol where the Archangel is described thus: "His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame". It kind of suggests albinism to me…
Stripped naked, I fall to my knees
Aching to purify my soul
Barbed metal of the cilice
Piercing vulnerable skin
I pray for absolution
Longing to cleanse myself
Of vile carnal lust and rage
Each lash of the Discipline
That vicious, knotted whip
Sheds streams of sticky dark blood
My pale flesh bathed in scarlet
From its agonising flow
I feel my base desires, my sinful passions
Dissipating as my pain begins to lift me
To the glorious realm of angels
Robed in moonlit brilliance, their songs
A haunting melody of Heaven's essence
I feel the tears of Gabriel
God's holy Messenger
He of the snowdrift wings
And flaming eyes
Falling softly on my eyelids
His radiant albino beauty
Mirroring my own
As his slender hands caress away my wounds
He gives me strength
And I offer up my prayers
That God will let me hear
His sacred words
From the sweet lips of this blessed one
His own Archangel