Blessed Hands

I

Take me, now,

the blessed hand of maturity,

ravaging the field

where I was borne.

So you lift me.

Up, into cold air.

And this vision, wide,

cannot contain you.

We have lost 

our forms

seas of clouds 

can no longer hold us.

I am falling

through them into you

where inside becomes

a dimmed holy light.

Often, I cannot tell

Who writes? Who speaks?

A blue sky, clear as dawn

where dizzying time began.

And if I fell,

would these bones shatter?

You see, it scares me—

our human fragility.

But the trees bend

hands in prayer 

to the clouds above 

and this biting air.

And we soften—blue, 

shades of green embrace us.

A shield.

You said—you promised,

maturity begets courage.

Why did you not tell me,

how much it takes away?

II

The masquerading hands

falling through the cracks 

in time. You’ll see the signs—

not even God knows.

Perhaps they’ll grasp you

from in between, where you live,

half alive, half unknowing,

like a song not finished.

The chorus of angels 

will try to sing your heart

to completion’s rest.

But the ground!—it aches transparent.

As every day swallows, 

every night reveals

what kept hidden, the light, 

those hands can never touch.

Still,

the mountains want to speak 

with you. 

But the light 

covers their mouths.

You could never grasp it.

The night, the stars,

a tree, a bird,

a song 

caught 

in your lover’s throat 

like the sun

waiting to be born.

Smoke—

it rises, a signal, 

clears your heart, pulled

toward the ocean 

where it mingles

with water and salt—

your tears, the sea.

It is pulled by you.

Your longing, resonant with a world

where you finally grasp

another hand.

III

Even the trees have stories.

But do the lights 

have shadows?

A cloud I cannot taste;

I want something 

my teeth can bite into.

But perhaps reality evades

our constant flailing attempts

to make it something solid.

We fall through the trees

and into shadow’s light,

as if we were the clouds

Once—We were the Sun, all light

Blazing before, the earth

tried to hold us down.

We will never hold anything 

except the love we give each other,

these blessed hands of ours.