The Defiling - A Short Story

On a pilgrimage across a pitiless desert, three poets find a small child dying of thirst and exposure. They stop to observe and create art from the moment, for this is the work of true poets—their duty to the world. To interfere in the event would be to risk defilement.

One poet will never comprehend the tragedy they are about to witness. One will lose everything she possesses, and the third will feel the weight of her next decision for every moment of her life to come.

The Defiling originally appeared in Amazing Stories magazine, edited by Patrick L. Price. This edition contains an afterword by the author, “Poets in the Wilderness.”