one by one
they came,
kaleidoscoping in and out of one another.
falling from the sky
spiraling
like a silent siren of light
from heavens open door.
i stood directly in the middle of the storm
arms outstretched skin vibrating with knowing
drinking in the laughter of their crying mouths.
hours passed before my seizing body, like
the shadows of swiftly moving clouds.
how long had it been?
a month?
a year ?
maybe more
when i awoke i knew the world would never be the same.
i crawled up and out of black liquid earth
mothers blood joined my own and filled
the air in my lungs with fierce and undying devotion
i would never die for lack of stimulus
for
i had become the very essence of creation.
not a breath would pass from my being without
the shadow of death remembered.
not a movement left unnoticed
callousness abandoned,
hope
a thing of the past.
i found deep joy in the rotting remains
of a time long forgotten.
blackened machines lay along side the
abandoned streets
enchanting murmurs
swam through newly drenched air
the tears of abandoned millions
pushed its way to the surface of my lucid skin
i drank.
knowing I would never
forget the reason for their downfall
the deadly finale
a tale suffocated by desire.
an alley way of despair.
if only the fallen could see now, the splendor of
their forgotten creators
ants marching mythically along the peeling bark of the manzanita
flies touching down on my body then taking flight
the delicate dark lines etched on skeletal remains
teeth still planted neatly within the sun bleached jaw bone
the whispering hum of the yellow jackets, a nest somewhere above
onward i walk
knowing the other
survivors
somewhere
walk as well
and in the same reverence,
i know
i can’t say how or why
but i know,
they walk
seeing each new scene
as if for the first time
like i
they look
they live
they listen.
we shall rise
again
like tides on sand
to meet,
in the dark body of our mother.