This year’s olive crop
is failing across Apulia
as older-than-Christ
groves are uprooted
to break the spread
of the end of the world
for sun-dried farmers
who bear the dark look
of bereaved parents
at their child’s funeral –
as their questions to God
are waved away at mass –
Their pontiff no longer visits
because Rome is burning
with rumours of disease
promulgated by priests