The Book

The pages of my rebirthing leave ink marks on my thumbs.

My comfort is set to the tune of an ancient jazz music

And a lit candle dancing on the walls of my small space,

Distributing it's tranquil aroma,

Tangling itself in my drawn curtains,

Twinkling on the surface of my tea cup,

And enveloping me in a sea of peace.

I see myself

In formation

Being molded and mended

Like the African rag dolls of olde

Torn apart and made new again

Arranged and rearranged

Like the words on the paper my being consumed.

With each word I am rewritten.

The former pages of me are erased,

Shredded and transformed into dust

And from them,

I am formed.

My hands,

Once coated in dejected and melancholy memory,

Are now an elegant shade of bronze.

My dress,

Once made red with the blood of faulty decisions,

and time stolen and slaughtered,

And dragged through the mud of shame and iniquity,

Is now white.

Because of You.

You rewrite my un-ended story,

While I read Yours.

You hide my immortality

In Your binding.

My soul reaches a place

My body is not invited to

A place of freedom

Dancing with Your words

Singing Your everlasting lyrics

Here, I am comforted and hidden from the cruelty of the world.

Here I am protected and in love

Here I am rewritten.

I am happily unnoticed between the pages of Your legacy

They cannot find me here

Tucked away in Your warmth.

But if I were to close You,

And put You back on my shelf,

Promising to come back to You another day,

But forgetting.

Instead, engrossing myself in the mundane ways that surround me,

And never coming back to breathe Your air once more,

I would be remiss

And foolish.

You are my air.

In You, I am alive.

I am not becoming,

In You,

I am.

I do not exist,

In You,

I thrive.

In You,

I am redefined,

New words on a blank sheet.

And each passage of me,

Is new and unscathed.

I sport fresh pages and a raw binding

That cracks gently when You lean in to edit

The work You have made.

When I read You,

You are my author,

And from the chaos that ensues around me

I am comforted at last.