i.

Healing from revealing wounds
fingered fresh when passed around,
olive-fleshed Death against which
strangled kisses oppress breath,
pirating vibrance, dimmed shine

                    ii.

inviting no lightning slit
of brilliance through veiled eyelids
heavy with unkindness bend
brows to crescents, inverting
them opining in silence

                    iii.

on how much it weighs, how much
space it takes, his impatience
labyrinthing in a dark
corridor forested with
deepest uninterest this

                    iv.

pacing of shadow over
hard floors obscured stone, colder
than exposed bone, pores, gorges
on gushes of, swallows down,
if only to hold some growth,

                    v.

some expansion of moment
time itself permits to feel
less punishing as it fills
this incident with what meal
passes for shed innocence

                    vi.

restored, replenishment of
flesh with spilled soul, wineskin burst
of spoiled conscience under toil
burdened to turn over soil
softened with tears of claws, torn

                    vii.

tapestry trampled under
dirty soles as regret crawls,
foot into mouth, gasp from palms
falling off Death’s lips when, one
hand’s-breadth between heaven and

                    viii.

prayer in a liminal stance,
knuckles pull until romance
convinces him fistfuls of
earth cool stigmata coal-scorch,
heal to wholeness portals through

                    ix.

the indigo-tinged borders
of which hurt relived passes
unstitched, and for all of his
wickedness Death forgives loss,
of Self, of others we once

                    x.

experienced and bothered
to address together as
us, as parts we would rather
possess than admit were just
our secret flaws’ complements.