Vigil

I sit in darkness in the brilliant sun

Deep in the shadows of an ancient fear

And I shall taste its bitter, salty cold

Till you are here.

 

All of mortality sits in each breath,

I cut myself on every broken thing

And wonder that my soul has life to bleed

Or nerves to sting.

 

How does this desert squeeze out frozen tears,

While my whole self is tensioned into prayer?

 I raise a candle in my inmost heart

Till you are there.

 

Still mercy holds and weaves each shaking strand

Into a cloak to wrap my fearful heart

A place of safety till this wait is done,

No more apart.