The boy pressed his hand
to the cool interior wall,
sitting on the floor
of a dark, empty chapel.

Outside the sun blazed,
and humidity oppressed.

The orphan created
a narrative in his head,
one based on some strange logic.

If hell was an "eternal
torment of flames,"
then the cool interior
of the monk's chapel 
must be the anti-hell --
a place that devoured 
the heat of hell-fire...

but what did that make
that baking place 
that was outside
those thick walls.