Carrot

“Blessed be sin if it teaches men shame.”
               —Georges Bernanos, The Diary of a Country Priest

This clod-caked taproot tugged from soil      
Then rinsed in water clear & cool

Flares like a soul made visible
By sin that’s seen as good once gone.

The world consists of there/not-there.
I choose between each one each hour.

I eat the carrot raw & whole
From tawny tip to fronded crown.

I eat the carrot     not the soul.