Somewhere Before

Somewhere before I was born
I was ashes in the Earth,
or maybe that was after I died
the last time.

In the circle of all the women
I've ever been, my feet are firmly
on the ground
dancing with God.

Here, around this fire and the heat
my essential self is urgent,
seeking to join our deepest longing
and know just what to say

to the heart of the haunted
ghost-structure
where old damage
is bloody and dreaming;

the wisps of freedom
that rise up
from sorrow's bed.