sanctuary

you set twenty-four bones as a sanctuary for your breath
made a heart & lungs, then stretched skin around them
your thumb knew each trail from my eyes before a tear left
made my ribcage your eden, as you tenderly wiped my chin

you laid my head against a tree, & made it twenty-three
in tenderness, you formed her & put her in that sanctuary
you sewed up my side, even knowing i’d sew up leaves
i put my teeth in with hers, but couldn’t plead deceived

i held her as she bled, & my lips kissed her forehead in innocence
i started to tear my chest open for her eyes, but then she just left
we both know my sins, but only a serpent could spit ‘it’s for the best’
i’m worn out from crying out, & my ears from a devil’s arrogance

your eyes knew my sins before you covered them
but has redemption become nothing more than animal skins
she’s set angels & fire at the gates of her chest
was making me leave splintered your intent from the first kiss

oceans have dripped, but an ark hasn’t become a sanctuary
her scent still permeates the breeze, but it just leaves a longing
turned my eyes around, but the dove came back with nothing
when will your mountain become the ground beneath me

i recall how you put colors in my sky, turning it from its grey
but i made her my tower, to try to touch them before they’d fade
in my arrogance, i put myself first, then the gift, then who gave
my lips couldn’t speak, & it’s as if each word were rearranged

i recall how you wet my throat, as your ravens fed me bread
the cherith you made flow has become drier than my parched lips
my side’s grown cold, & my stomach’s shriveled as hunger’s bred
there’s no widow, & i’ve laid myself down, fingering each rib

the last tear has fallen, but even your thumb hasn’t noticed
twenty-three bones became a sanctuary for hollowness
i’ll clean off a stone, wrap dirt around myself & call it rest
beckon the birds to finish off, but wasn’t it yesterday they fed

it’s getting harder, & i can’t swallow the ache like wine vinegar
i swear i’m crying out your name, but it’s as if your back has turned
my heart hasn’t moved, but she left as if we’d only bleed together
she’s all i see as i close my eyes, but all she sees is the hurt

her chest had become my eden, & i collapsed as i was banished
hell found sanctuary in my chest, as if you formed it for that end
resurrection became a wish, a wish that puts two nails in my wrists
how can you leave me strung out on the tree you had laid my head

i put you up on that cross, & the worst part is i knew full-well
i wounded her, til wounds became calluses & then her farewell
has the same passed from your lips, have you left me to my hell
or did you cry out my name as i nailed your wrists & ankles

i thought you sewed me up better than leaving stitches in
but it’s as if they were torn out as i split your side open
would you thread me together, or has it been seventy-times seven
would you set the rib back, or leave me splintered within

i can’t bear the weight of my sins against you, or your daughter
i cherish her, & i’d wait three days, then a thousand others
if you could remove her calluses, like you did your grave’s door
but even if you don’t peel them back, still wipe away her tears

we used to walk together, as evening set in our garden
her & i used to too, but it’s been hard to walk since then
open my eyes, as your own draw them to the heavens
make your ribcage my sanctuary, & your chest my salvation