Fingerprints

10 If they could see your fingerprints on me
8 you would be a convicted thief.
10 A trespassing vandal, delinquent and
8 reckless--my guiltiest relief;
10 A gallant in pious vestments, fable
8 of my very falsest belief.

(note, the I is a she....if you didn't already get that from "gallant" referring to her "choice thief")

I have been struck lately by the reality of disillusionment and self-deception in our every day life...this poem has a bit of both. It is written in the format of a confession, confrontation, or lamentation. Perhaps all three?

Why is she saying this? To whom is she speaking? Not sure yet. Though I picture her on a stage, like one of the Greek tragedians who lays herself bare to the audience--as Hamlet explains, "the players cannot keep counsel; they'll tell all."