xxii

what am I unmending?
who is the blood i am drinking?
i ignite the oils to let the fires bless
all translucent as soaked-through flesh
it’s a grateful loneliness, a rapturing stillness
the clouds will take what they will
and you will thank them for all that is left behind
a punitive lashing your eyes take in kind
all waters will fill the absence in time
even if the grime settles upon the surface
or the salt crystallises in your kidneys
who would i be to mistrust god’s intentions?
the lesions forming are the lessons learned
gauze woven in with the pulsing wounds
trust only in the process even as it worsens
like lepers guiding the hands of blinded surgeons
will he spoil us now for every injury self-inflicted?
will our heaven be as promised by dying tongues?
and what of the children we poisoned in his name?
a prayer to smother the sunken cost