in illo tempore

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in illo tempore

as shadow cast (original face)
dense as fog, across
a desert of sage and stones

_____

first communion, stale wafers
and sour wine: belief
cannot make it so

sweet flesh and blood
of the first kiss:
darkness
joins two worlds: tasting
the word made soul

_____

memory webbed
in vessels and arteries,
flowing from womb to urn

_____

that this is outlived,
revealed only when the mirror
falls to floor

ivy shrouds the body’s
temple walls

_____

the sky painted
black and flowered
with stars, transient,
shifting a little
each moment

then one falls
screaming to the ground

a smile on the lips
of an iris: a blooming
where heaven kisses earth