i. revive

Float in a tomb to the
watery grave, a
second death within the waves

Wring the wound of the chest,
damp and heavy with the
weight of a whimpering child

Velveteen bruised, unreal as a
cotton rabbit, once hugged and then
discarded in a fever blaze

But resurrect the love you had
once been given, stitch the
remnants deep in the heart's fabric
and fasten the fingers in its warmth

Perhaps this is the second coming, a
miracle for the dead to
rise again and gasp anew

Lower gently the body into the
depths and watch the water
cradle the wrists and calm the arms

As it rises and goes, sense the
scars loosen from the skin, rinsed
away as soil to a newness within