Among

You came and stood
    - among them -
Conqueror of the depths of the grave;

Invited them
     torushinclose
     and touch
     your hands and side.

You breathed
     into dust
     again -
Made them whole:
Peace
     be With you -
          Feel my pulse,
          Believe,
          Be alive.

You told someone like me,
Don't
     Hold me...
                       just yet.
I think maybe
      when she does
She will
     never
          let go.

Apart

I hated standing

Six            Feet            Away  -

The depth of a plague victim's grave.

My body ached
     torushinclose,
     hug and hold
     You
     for a long time.

My substance is disintegrating
     from the withholding:
To feel the pulse of an Other
With One's whole form
Is a holy need -
     We turn to dust without it.

My flesh is blowing away in the wind...
How long can One hold on
     to no one
          before

               f  a  l  l  i  n  g

                                   a      p      a      r      t      ?

12 West Monroe

I breathe
Between
The healing places.

Body of Christ
     to the north,
Right near Saint Francis -
House of prayer and
     house of healing
Always must go together.

Across the waterfall,
     under the Great Mountain,
Is the Saint's cathedral -
Pulsing green with a blue dome,
Teeming with his Sisters and Brothers,
     and it's a wonder
And no wonder
     the baptismal waters
Flow into the heart of the city.

That's my southern border -
The place I learn to die.
It's also where I rise from the River,
     and feed on the Body and Blood;
Where my blind eyes see
     and where I stretch out my withered hand
In the presence of the Body, the Saints, the Family.

North and east,
West and south -
There's restoration in this house
     and all around.
That is why I breathe here,
Invited to heal.