In The Leaving of Light

Pluck a diamond
from this dark night
of principles
and hang it in the hole
pierced with freedom
long ago
in your left earlobe.
The hook no longer stings
nor swells, but slides with silver
smoothness into beauty.

Look into the chemistry
of your lover’s eyes
and imagine the universe
he lived in at the beginning
of the light he offers you now.

What angel lamentations or lyrics
can describe this much loss
in one simple gift?

Better yet,
let him win you back
with a single kiss
or in an embrace.
What mercy there would be
in that focus on forgiveness—
in the true surprise
of authentic hope.

Here gold rings
and bands forged
by heat and fire
would be reduced to nothing
but the shape of a heart
etched in the traveling skin
of a human hand.

Here anger and managed bodies
would break apart
into countless smooth pebbles
and be washed away by floods
and rolling rapids of pain.

Here the animal body
would swim into the wildest
open seas and float
until the glittering sky
gathered herself together
in the loving waves
lost in the leaving of light.