CRUSHED FRAGRANCE

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thunder strikes 

and you are particularly aware it's drawing closer 

the sound of separation growing fainter and fainter

her body shudders, earth quakes

all of space expands and contracts

she breathes in deep

seismic shifts await 

a soul is arriving

and in every place

everywhere her eyes intake

is grace

every date palm shakes

and look here 

the fruit is in our hands 

at sundown when the light dims

and the curtains are pulled in

when our eyes grow tired 

our iris awakes, the deep dark hole widens

into a big embrace 

to hold close a prophet, who has been thrown down this well

she clenches her teeth 

parched lips

the earth is revived after its death

while her eyes are still closed 

the mouth of the whale opens 

we, you and I, are inside

there was once that moment, we were two 

sticky fingered dabs of honey 

under the sun with long green grass and a flower

a clot made a man

we were many as we looked into the eyes of this newborn 

whose cord, the rope to our Lord

was just snapped, cut 

it's time she thinks, to start the hunt

remember where you left it

the keys you misplaced for the front door

and for the car that gets us home

in the babes eyes, we saw the summit

the lote tree, a mountain flipped

with branches that spread out wide like her arms around this tiny human

this baby boy, 

this once baby girl delivered on this slab of earth

this old soul, 

newly dressed in a mound of clay, newly formed

I wonder what our mother endured

as he's taken from her arms 

the crowded room is impatient 

awaiting a cry

we all had a glimpse into the window

between life and death, between you and I

and it's a full moon tonight 

she noticed the sky as she cried

her womb was empty

tears fill this well 

and we wonder if her eyes glimmer

like the stars 

that are folded up inside us 

the ones we see most clearly on cold clear desert nights

those lights that are pinched by our heedlessness 

we should remind each other to keep them lit

when the street lights go out 

we begin 

don't forget about the rosebud she held in her hand

in the delivery room it was invisible in her fist 

the one she destroyed

how best to unwrap the rose?

to prematurely unfold it

dried velvety flakes of fragrance are all that's left

between you and I, we and us

only a scent remains