The Baptism

I think I forgot to put this up... but if I didn't maybe it is a good idea to keep it close by... just to live with it, just in case.

The Baptism

I was born slowly and immediately

wrapped in the falling leaves of the wind-

not crying aloud,

merely breathing the first few clouds

in and out,

ferocious and bound forward-

the way the stone parts pieces of sky

before it breaks through the glass.

And this, my first word, is one word

for both of you:

(anger and hope)

at the same time.

You drank it in, tasted the salt in it and then

knew how to bathe me in it’s cold ambivalent blessing

I caught you looking down from the above just

as I shuttered in your arms and you tightened

to comfort me

Suddenly this way,

you spoke

to me,

wholly,

about me: the word dripping out between tears

-a fiery honey on my forehead

and in my mouth-

causes me to rise early and fly

-my breast ablaze with spring like the robin: curling

tones and toes-on the topmost branches of this risk

called home.