You see these sparks we are gathering ...

Have you gathered me into arms
like salvation, rolled me

through your fingertips like prayer?
Have you bathed me with your tears,

whispered pleas to every dark place
for my soul? You see these sparks

we are gathering, how many suns
are therein? Will they bring fire

when my body grows cold with
malaise? What did you do

with the questions on my tongue?
Are they what you use to weave

the sunset that parades beneath
the tree? The river carries longing

in its travel & you carry my absence
in your bones. Who are you?

Your distance terrifies me.
How do you bear the weight

of my love? How do you ignore
the shapes of my trauma?

But this love is an earthquake
without mouth, a flood without

thirst. Don't you see the sparks
we gather here? I have given you

the charred bones of all my affairs,
the roasted flesh I'll keep

to myself. I'm afraid. I stare
too long at the mirror.

If I give you too much of my sins,
I'll lose you. Gather me again

like twigs for the fire. Fold
the rags of my body into oil.

Light me so I can feel the sun.
Let me burn darling.

Let me burn.

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