Along the dirt path

Her feet dragged in sorrow,

Her white dress covered in self-loathing,

Her eyes filled with regretful tears and

Her lips blistered with slander.

Her knees grown weak from her brutal journey, she gives in.

She hits the cold ground.

The cold was her only comfort, for she has no memory of what warmth felt like.

Looking up in the dark sky,

No stars, no moon, no light.

It has been a long time since she had seen The Light.

How did I get here?

She ponders how she came to be.

Thinking back to when she first took this dirt path so long ago.

 

A shining light that God has bestowed on Earth

Katarina breathed purity.

Dress white as a lamb, so bright that it blinding

Skin fare and soft as cotton, irresistible to touch

Electric blue eyes, that traps you with its stare

Luscious, long blonde hair glows like a halo on her head.

Down the paved, golden path

There is a fork in the road.

Right, the gold road continued

Or left, a dirt path.

Katarina never encountered a test from God.

Curious about the new path, she vacillated to the left.

Walking on the new path,

She abandons the golden one.

 

An aroma caught Katarina’s nose

Ubiquitous red flowers covered the dirt path.

The surrounding beauty and the fragrance ignited something deep within her

She was a virgin to this urge, this desire.

Katarina needed to fulfill this new emptiness within her.

Don’t give in.

But she wants it.

She wants to give everything to become satisfied.

This wanting and longing overcame her better judgment.

She gave into temptation

And let lust wrap around her

Smothering her in a pleasure she never felt before.

 She slowly closed her eyes

And slipped into ecstasy.

 

Katarina wakes up, unsatisfied.

There a table sat, infinite with food.

Her mouth watered, stomach rumbled.

Eating slowly then faster

She pulverized her face and forced her throat to swallow.

Hunger was gone but she kept on eating.

A man chained away from the table.

Figure lean as a corpse and skin pale as a ghost.

He reached out for food.

“Please, feed me,” he begs.

Katarina’s heart, overwhelmed with selfishness

“NO!”

The man breathed his last words to her

“Glutton.” 

 

After her feast a light caught her eye.

Slowly walking down the dirt path she stops and marvels.

Mountains of golden idols, sea of gold coins, and cloud of silk cloths.

She has never seen so many riches in one place.

Between the idols, forty-five carat diamond necklace laid.

Transfixed on its beauty,  

Snatched necklace with her greedy hands,

And placed it around her neck.

An old hag hobbled toward her.

“That is my prized possession. You are committing avarice,”

That is not yours to own. Return it to her.

“It is mine now.”

Old hag ran to her bared a knife,

Stabbed in the heart, the old hag was killed, Katarina walked away with a smile.

 

Katarina finds a bed along the dirt path.

She falls onto the cushions.

She smothers the pillows to death

And cocooned herself with the blankets

She is consumed with languor.

No will to get up.

No desire to move.

You must find your way back to the Golden road, the true path.

Still as stone she laid there.

Minutes passed, then hours, then days, weeks, now months.

She has no aspiration to think, to move, to live.

Lifting her head after a centennial sleep

There a word plastered onto the blanket

Sloth

 

 

Continuing down the path

A river blocks her way

Wrath chokes her heart.

A boat drifts by

Impatience manifests her soul

Slowly the boat comes to Katarina

The boat stops, she climbs on, and it slowly moves.

“Hurry now I must go.”

You must calm down.

The boat never speeds up, only drifts across the way.

Surged of anger Katarina, pushes the rower out, and paddles the boat.

“Save me!” the rower begged.

“I will not do such thing. You deserve to die for wasting my time.”

Katarina continues her journey without looking back

 

A beautiful voice fills Katarina’s ears.

A woman in a meadow sings to herself.

She had rose red lips, snow white skin, and night black hair.

A ping of jealousy developed in the pit of Katarina’s stomach.

Katarina’s dress was destroyed

Her hair was greasy and unwashed

Her feet were covered in mud

And her face was cut.

Katarina envied the woman.

She wanted be more winsome than her.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor.

Her jealousy made her body shook, her envy made her blood boil.

Katarina snapped the woman’s neck like a twig.

Katarina walked away from the stunning corpse.  

 

Katarina began to believe in herself.

The Shining Star,                                 

The Light,

The One.

She is God herself.

Thoughts of peasants and kings all around,

Worshiping her

Brought her pleasure.

Visions of statues resurrected in her honor,

And sea of blood of her enemies excited her.

You are not a God. You are the follower of one God.

There is no God.

She will be the ruler of everything.

She took pride with herself.

 

Slithers though the grass toward Katarina,

A black python wraps itself around her leg.

“You rejected God and his grace. The purest soul is damned to hell.”

Katarina realized her knavery.

Never asked for forgiveness,

Never realized she committed sin after sin.

Lost the truth path

Lost God

Lost her purity

Her soul is tainted

Dirty from sin

Can never be clean again

The snake snapped her leg in half,

 And disappeared into the shadows.

 

So that is how I ended up here.

Laying on the cold ground,

Waiting for death to take her,

All the sins she committed

Lust,

Gluttony,

Greed,

Sloth,

Wrath,

Envy,

Pride,

All were her choices.

She welcomed Hell,

For this is the path she has taken.

Along the dirt path.