“Resurrection:” a poem

Resurrection

I speak to the earth:

When the time comes,

welcome my bones,

cradled in your dark hands.

They return full of memory

with trust that you will weave them

into countless bodies

that will dance across your face.

I speak to the fire:

When the time comes,

welcome the spark

from my eye, my soul’s yearning,

the shock beat of my heart.

Welcome the flame that is me

into the ever-burning.

I speak to the water:

When the time comes,

taste the tear from my cheek.

May the thick blood from my veins

unfurl in the great flow of your life

that carves through time,

singing across countless stones.

I speak to the wind:

When the time comes,

inhale me, soft breath,

the great teacher

who has shown me the joy

of returning again and again

to rest beyond my brittle self,

the whisper of hope,

the brush of a feather on my skin.

I speak to my heart:

When the time comes,

do not be afraid.

Now you will see with open eyes

the truth held safe in shadow,

an endless horizon

within and everywhere,

and the turning, the turning,

as all things rise into being

once again.

–Stuart Higginbotham