White Elephant Coat de School of Seven Bells

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