#1

T O U C H

Horizontally rest, dear friend
Let eyes inwardly turn
Here is an altar
Decked in linens white, for massage, for touch
For hands to pluck the full scale
Of human flesh

Underneath it all
We are bone

Inside of bone
Like in the caverns of Earth
Dry minerals crystallize themselves
Supporting base for our entire frame

Complex chemical compounds
Salts
Our bones

Their shape, length, and size
duplication of the many scattered
Parts of man
Assembled in the perfect puzzle
Of everyone’ s
“I”

I am touching the shape of bone
Beneath breathing flesh
To uncrook and strengthen them

Muscles tense and bend our frame
I reach beneath layers and layers
Of Earthly weight

Cry, friend cry
Sense the dew today

Cry friend, cry
Become malleable
Like the morning of each new day

Above bones rivers of blood flow
Red ruby light
When seen by the sun
But dormant, deep blue, when inside

Rivers of longing pulse us
From the source to the source,
Our beating sending receiving heart

The hub of the wheel of life
Circular tickling pulse

Measure of our labyrinthic
Logarithmic clocks
Circadian rhythms,
inner days and nights

Our sojourn
Individual, unique

In this vehicle of body…

From Birth to Death

Pilar / 1982 / Reston, Virginia