There was a shred of quaintness to the shrine, a childish naivety trapped in the clumsy wrappings of leather and cloth, all else belied the tribute as grotesque.
A pauper's providence lay beneath the hollow stare of the effigies damp-sagged face.
Ruddy water dripped from a melted snout crafted from paper and tree-sap and bled across once bright, beautiful things below. Now forgotten trinkets long past mourned.
The kneeling vagrant before the grim charade of faith clutched filthy hands around a coin kept lovingly, blessedly clean. A sallow supplicant to the looming shadow that stretched across the sewer wall.
