dawn

twirling down
and settling below the crown and face
i stayed thinking only of what had been
and how i could keep it;

yet, one word,
one little word from you 
and the trees fell
the oaks bent
the world ceases in motion
(a momentous clearing, rough as dust settles
as if the forest ripped open into naked blue).

and i was so aware ofeverythingalltogether
bowed low by a (whisper) spoken through.

and too, i felt naked 
hiding behind anything i could find,
scurrying from log to limb to rock and bush,
from the voice that came and beckoned 
with uprooting questions:
(the kind in which both parties 
already know the answer). 

and i laugh now that it’s all over
but then and still the answer shakes me,
and i am seen through, 
though the darkness overtakes me,
and haven’t yet found myself 
in the messesmaking;
but the dontleavemehere 

and the imalreadytaken, compoundedtogether, bridging the words of now-into-forever, 
over-the-bend to then, 
still dabbling in the maybe, 
who knows, and certainly
these things will come to be;

caught here in the forest laid low
where sky bears down, dust settles,
and the glow up-rises in me, 
springing not in force, no, but blooming 
like a flower at the proper hour 
bears its rose,

and all is lifted from the hiding places
and all our faces break into tears and smiles 
and embraces:

to those hidden with me 
sheltered ‘mongst the shrubs
see that you’ve been seen,
and rest easy, dawn has come.