it might be a simple sleight of hand -
something you neither recognize nor understand.
not gluttony, sloth, greed, anger or pride
is as common as these hot twangs inside
which when triggered threaten to swallow you up
(you as pliable as water in a drinking-cup)
before you can even recognize what has happened
(sort of lights at night - look away, not at them).

always in the back of our minds they prattle,
we wage constantly a subconscious battle
with these unheard voices, lascivious and fell.
in short, we each have an endogenous hell -
condemning ourselves through no fault in sin:
tempted not by demons without, but by demons within.