Awakening

this is what it was
a grave, a quiet spot
away from the madding crush
a place to breathe

your face emerging from the soil
eyelids closed to sun and stars
nose clear and breath slowed
lips sealed and unmoving

I look at you as if for the first time
and with my small hand
wipe a bit of soil
from your cheek

your eyes still want to close
silence covers you
just as you covered yourself
in the earth

what complacency
what complicity
led you here
to lie hidden in the grass

no pinprick of starlight
to pierce a pupil
no soft caress of cloud
to inflame your cheek

season after season
stiff against the wind
even your ears buried
so as to hear nothing

but the song of the dark earth
and now my breath
as I croon a lullaby of
awakening and with my fingers —

this must be done slowly and
with the solidity of courage —

brush the soil from your temples
from the crevices of your eyelids
run my fingers across your cold lips
touching silence, touching fear


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