((( )))

earnest luna moth ungrounded
battering this luminous pane
dreaming only oneness with the brilliance shut within
shattering off the shards of lightness that would let me fly
against reflection of you unreachable
come regenerating sun
rise behind my weary wings
release me into light unlimited

emptied salmon swimming rivermouth
battling outrushing waves
swept again again to vibrant depths already once abandoned
now only seek to sift myself in soft and silted home waters
and pass on to new being
come calm gravitating moon
reverse the drowning tide
admit me to primordial flow again

exhausted bird-imposter in precarious flight
begging fragile wings to lift
much more air than substance in my paper skeleton
yet more above me than below no matter how I climb
come everchanging two-life spirit
wind-jeweled one of feather and of earth
gatherer of the precious bones
journeyer to underworld's oblivion for our rebirth
and then to heavens for our morning starlight
Ipalnemohuani
rare birds have risen from your ashes
and even I in dreams have seen you
with the light above your head
and your feet on humble earth to battle darkness
now here to reincarnate as the dance
where I – if through my fall upheld -
will come at last to ground

*(Ipalnemohuani: Nahuatl title reserved for the anima directly involved in creation, translated "by whom we live")