St. Agnes (patron of virgins, chastity, gardeners, girls, engaged couples, & rape victims)

golden hair wound around you

as if your body was a spool

and this was the way to hide

beneath something

lighter than yourself

to protect you from hands that

tangle themselves in your limbs,

that hold your tiny wrists to the ground,

put so much weight on your ribs

that you imagine them cracking

like kindling, like ice on a pond,

your heart is a fish

frozen beneath the surface.

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tradition for her feast day: http://www.zenit.org/article-28121?l=english

"The Prefect Sempronius wished Agnes to marry his son, and on Agnes' refusal he condemned her to death. As Roman law did not permit the execution of virgins, Sempronius had a naked Agnes dragged through the streets to a brothel. As she prayed, her hair grew and covered her body. It was also said that all of the men who attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind." - Wikipedia