swan song

tell me now
how the world ends
now that morning has come
on broad-wings
measuring the sky with
the slow breath of feathers.

tell me
by the ancient light of stars
by the stardust that
became our bones
how this path ahead –
this real as mud earth tree path
never was for our walking
that we have lived all we can be –
that it is done now
over.

is there time still
for that rain
bundling the horizon
to touch my skin –
douse the summer heat
until i drip pool run
rivers to the sea

for what is this world
but our relationship
with the earth
made manifest

and what is broken
but our hearts –
our connectedness
to the earth
we are

and what is this end
but shedding a scarred skin
too long held

screaming our fear
into the abyss of our birth
as all we thought we were
falls around us

scaled and scabbed and
crusted with old blood –
it must all fall

so we may meet ourselves
first light of morning
bright skin learning a world
anew.

---

For Brendan at earthweal’s weekly challenge: THE SWAN

https://earthweal.com/2022/01/24/earthweal-weekly-challenge-the-swan/

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