A hand reaches to feel the solidity of life beneath it. 
The granite anchor of presence, promise, 
dependable occupancy. 
the awakening flower unfurls, 
a body breathes deep as the dress falls, 
to embrace warmth, widow and widower, 
touching a song inside one another, 
to feel cells thriving beneath our lips, 
a swelling river pouring forth, 
an appreciation of deep energy, 
the romantic corpse of our paralysis, garlanded, 
in a circle of candles, 
on the altar of guilty survivors. 

How sweet is breath!
How lovely the warmth of skin!
How bitter the only offering we can give.
But the heart remembers
The mind pulls through the center
Petals falling
Surrendering to life again.