join hands

join hands"

gather tonight
beside this fragile place with its fractured skies

do we see the skies, or only the cracks in the ceiling?

i will take your hands and i will stare into the place
where molecules combine, never quite touching
never quite touching

for a moment
an hour
trance sister
we were children

will you wonder if i shed some tears
of joy
because i found myself reborn?

the rain never seems to stop
it is caprice itself
it waits for me to walk out the door
before it begins

i never think of my umbrella
i never believed in it anyway

the air is hot and overbearing
and every drop of rain is a god-bullet
penetrating my soul

if you open the unseen eye,
you can see the chalk outline on the pavement
of where i fell

was it here, or was it there?
the couch, the sidewalk, the parking lot,
the bathroom
my bed?

cast not the cold forensic eye
this is not a mystery, but a Mystery
that which endures
that which empowers
encourages discourse
intercourse
we can talk of science and nature and fiction
but our eyes observe a truth that cannot be detailed
a shared vision, if only moments at a time
kinship in this bright and beautiful place

i can see the sky
and it is
and yet so

this is where i remember why i believed in me
because no one else will
and no one else should
i don't have the rules of this place
i don't know the laws
i am savage, if barely noble

will you touch my hand again?
it's cold in here

--Stephen Sunday, August 2010.