I. Mourning
we cried while the moon rose
tears filled the sheets and pillows
tossed the bed to water
to ocean to sea
we filled our hearts
with crumpled paper
our slumber dissolved
rent by flashback and flash-forward
we wept til our eyes
grew dry
til they stuck, dusty in our sockets
then we sobbed from our navels
from our abdomens
from our ears
from our lungs
we reached for each other in darkness
and though it was cold
and the longest winter we could name
we promised each other
there was a robin
still beating her wings
to keep us
warm
we heard the sun come up
and that
was a surprise
it hurt more in the light to see the earth
still turned
when pain held our chests
like rock pins
gardens
we saw our dead
laid out in front of us
in the lines between the yellow lanes
of the road
we kissed their eyelids, rocked
their bodies
wove ivy into their hair
we told them we loved them
we told them we failed them
we told them we would do better
II. Resurrection
then we stood
up
and we lifted our arms out
we let fear course through
our veins
let it sing louder and louder until
it crushed into the walls
they had built
to keep us out
and
in
we threw ourselves forward over
the fences
until the fear turned
into
peace
turned
into
joy
turned into
love
and we
did not drown
in the bed of our
tears
we did not bow to the
ghosts
of our past
we did not evaporate
from the dehydration
of our
skin
we did not freeze
in the
cold
fire of
hell
we stood
up and we brushed our
fingertips in the
golden feathers of
hope
we
stood
up
and
we began
to march
again.