Wake

Not for what was left behind

30 years later, departure salty still

Nor for what I wish to come

Lo que(se)rá será

But for the tight

Narrow

Abyss

Between the two

I live at a wake

The lilies on my desk know this

Petals paper thin, crumpled

They breathe simultaneous beauty

And decay

Outside the rain

Burrows deep inside the earth

My grief works the same way

Tunnels dug each day

Alongside lymbic system, cardiovascular highways, digestive tracts

Alongside breath

I remain split

And folks with eagle eyes

And others with doe eyes

Offer hands, skin, as a way of unearthing a truth.

Originally Published in The Womanist - 2011