Pit of Bones

Every time I think that I am dead and gone
I see myself rising from a pit of bones.
So unexpected, this ghost of another day--
I had forgotten that it feels this way.

So many flavors,
and textures beneath the words,
expressions and gestures
shaping the world--
See them with joy,
see them with laughter,
Feel their weariness as they follow after all the disguises of Emptiness.

A bird cries across the ocean of night
Dipping into a sailor's fevered dream
then on to drink from a child's hidden tears
Until echoes of ancient longings pierce through all the worlds,
Stirring up corpses of long abandoned dreams
To send them scurrying after the receding shadows of forgetfulness.

Feel the sting of wounds fresh cut by the sword of Turning Away.
I did not know it would feel this way
As agony and ecstasy join hands
And merge into the smile that journeys across the arc of my soul
as she rises from this pit of bones.