The Pages Turn

This year was compost.

Darkness and the stench of death,

Rottenness

Covered it from head to toe.

Almost everything I thought was

Indestructible

Turned to ash beside me

I disintegrated right along with

Last fall’s bitter leaves

I mingled with death

Becoming an echo of

My love

In His tomb

All promise of daylight

Utterly unspoken

Without even the comfort of silence

Amidst death’s din

But as the pages turn

Love is swimming through my cells

Once more

I tilt the cup to Life’s lips

And watch her lashes stir

Once upon a time,

I found my place

Here in the book

Of all things.

She came unannounced

A whisper on the August breeze

Tickling my ear,

“Go under.”

Down I sink beneath all

Appearances

I greet the roots

Kiss them as

A crystal droplet pure

I reach into the corners of my story

Offering their tendrils

The recycled wisdom

Of my pain

And tragic missteps

As bitter minerals

Purified

Formless

Full of life

I sow myself into this ground

With winter’s devotion

The cold trills

“Go deeper child,

Go lower.”

Curled here in my nest

At the root of all things

Burning as this

Bubbling core

Of fire

I ask

“What is happening there,

On the surface?

What of those

I left behind?

And whose are the faces and hearts,

Who dwell above now?

How does the story go?”

She replies,

“The story goes with you my child…

Look into your own heart.

To where does she go?”