White Elephant Coat

See the branches bend like
Silk ribbons without breaking
The wind crashes into
Walls without shattering
Into a million strands
I ask you to listen

A sunless winter light
Throws its coat down to say
Keep your feet faultless before
The martyred ground defaced
And torn by no fault of its own
Bloodless lithe absolution
I give you so take from me
This white elephant coat