Dwelling in the Cave

The cave is among us
and has drawn us in
and roars with the empty
longing of the spaces
between the stars
and the darkest shadows
of every hollow moon.

Reach out your hand
and I might take it
as we walk on the shifting sands
of the beaches nearest the life force
we must drink deeply,
let it soak into our painful bones
and live
eyes set on the presence
of the fragile line
of the horizon.

Back in the darkness
we leave our weapons
empty
and melt into the goodness
of stone
so that we might emerge
into the light,
after each death we suffer,
and break open
like the buds of so many
spring flowers.

Dare to love me
as I am learning to love,
freely without the contract
of time.
The body finds her way
on the path worn
by the purest essence;
the scent of soul,
darkly musky
and damp
from the weeping walls
of the cave
we come home to,

the exhalation
of a lifetime of holding,

the pose of peace
and the harvesting
of the sweetest suffering
of the longing to fly.