Beneath Us/ Balancing

Beneath Us

We came from beneath

The ground and the stone

Carving, like water

on our bellies and backs

in the mud and the dark

smoothing tunnels in the echo

deep within the quiet,

below

away from the monsters

that would crunch on our bones

In the echoing rock that embraced the dawn

of man

as a womb to an infant

we would tread on its lands

in the shining warmth of the sun

to drink sugar from its trees to cut them down

and throw hollowed dead,

to become the dirt

forgetting in time

both mothers, and earth

***

Balancing

snowflakes melting on bare skin

a fire lit to quell the chill

we love the dichotomy

that dissipates only in the loss

of sensation

yin and yang

play the tipping game with the brain

scales sway back and forth;

admire the handiwork

of

The Universe:

the flame is to the snowflake,

never ceasing

one, never without the other

its purpose is not for itself

but to balance its opposite

stranger, can you reach me

ours is fragile

forever

fleeting