Cry of the Stars

He put the glowing bundle in my hands.

'What's this?' I said.
'My life,' was the reply.
    'Yours now.'
   
--what?
(I stood dumbstruck.)


'List of things inside,' he went on:
        never lies to Mom. never talks back to Dad. Yours.
        never speaks an unkind word. Yours.
        never gets annoyed with anything. Yours.
  
        always makes the right decision. Yours.
        always has complete self-control. Yours.
        pure thoughts. Yours.
  
        family relationship with Creator of all,
        stubborn love in the face of hatred,
        absolute, utter perfection--yours, yours, yours.
  
        more, too, if you keep looking.

   
'Mine,' I repeated. 'Mine?'
'My gift to you,' he said, smiling.
    'All yours.'

a miracle:

two glimmers like tall candles

reached each other across a black expanse

(found you, found it--)

astounding how contagious

smiles can be.

Who could tell?

You were just as new, but cold.

: The black exploded into blinding white

and rising sunlight kissed the ashes

like it could wake the dead

(found you, found it--)

was so bright and beautiful.

It did.

Life found you found Home.

dances like a mosquito
just out of reach,
hard to corner,
slipping out of your hands
with ghostly wings
and an eerie disappearing hum.

bites when you've
forgotten to look,
then itches and itches
and itches without stopping,
until you've fairly gone insane.

I.

I will not
flee from the sun with you,
for you would only
leave me trailing behind.
I will not
walk into the dawn with you,
for I don't know
what you do at my back.
When I've turned north,
then I will take you with me,
as your steps match
exactly with mine.


II.

outside i wonder what you play on rainy days
what hands and feet you follow then
and what rays shape your blurry frame
but in my house i can still see you
creeping around the corners back to me
and i don't have to wonder anymore.


III.

I dreamed that
darkness swallowed you,
set you free to wander,
and wrenched your fingers
from my own--

perhaps at night you
skip up to the clouds
and make a game of
hiding from the stars--

but don't forget
that when daylight returns,
you must flicker down to me
and once again be mine.