After the Fire

After the fire The room kept glowing Though nothing visible Remained Morning entered Wearing another name Light fell sideways Across the frame The street moved on But not like before Faces opened Like broken doors A breath half-born A trembling sign And all my body Fell behind My hands were near My skin was here But I was living Elsewhere, dear Only you remained A small unending spark A hidden gold Inside the black We built a country past the weather A field no boundary line could hold We walked where colors lose their edges Where love turns ruin into gold Our hearts were not of this world’s measure They burned too wide, too bright, too far And now I wander through the cinders After the fire Where you still are You were familiar As the unseen sea Strange as a doorway Opening in me Not new Not old Not near Not far But like a wound That knew the star Oceanic silence Infant light Shelter without wall Or right A tenderness Too fierce to name A holy hunger Without shame We crossed the line That fear called final Touched the edge And entered through And every color Spilled beyond us Like the sky When rain is true We built a country past the weather A field no boundary line could hold We walked where colors lose their edges Where love turns ruin into gold Our hearts were not of this world’s measure They burned too wide, too bright, too far And now I wander through the cinders After the fire Where you still are But every rainbow Leaves the evening Every flame Must lose its form Even the endless Finds a shoreline Even the sacred Meets the storm So here I am Among the embers Learning ash And learning air How to gather What the blaze spared How to live When you are there Now I know The world is deeper Than the names We gave the skin I have known you Before all language Somewhere silent Somewhere thin I burned through All I was keeping Now I kneel To what remains And seek a meaning Softly breathing After the fire Beyond the flame