This Too Shall Pass

i.

I cannot

so I whisper my confessions to the secret spaces between my rib bones

and fingers trace my wrists, feather-light, the rosary of scars

I offer prayers for each stark, white line but I know even that cannot take me to heaven

so I beg absolution and utter penitent sighs with unclean lips

no coal will ever touch

ii.

You are

you hate in the name of love, wrapping your judgments with white ribbons

and pretend you carry salvation to the world on the back of black stained wings

and the blood of those who fell to the cause

all you leave are red footprints on history's pages and

echoes of the unquiet who refuse the silence of death

iii.

I am

reaching, grasping, I pour myself out like water over stones

I cannot hold onto them and you and remain but my eyes refuse to accept the blindness

and I cherish the way the wind whispers the secrets of the world

too much to set fire to the fields