emily's gardener.

Come

O strange solidity

You shadow with sinew

Come climbe these stairs

that curl against the wall in the dark

a spiraling secret at the center

and the wrought iron is knotted together

a thousand thoughts tied into a spine

a twisted plot to support this story

and still they spin

upwards and upwards

and I, I am among the stars

at this perilous height watching the wind

turn the earth slow breath by breath

and I wonder who it is that is breathing

to keep this stone thing moving?

what is it that keeps you moving?

I can almost hear you now

fathoms below amongst your fellow shadows

in the company of your brother ghosts

and I wonder when you'll fall

give into the grip gravity wields

and slide down the banister into the dark again.

I've given up on grieving

Hope has given out under all this leaving

Oh somewhere in these stars

I've given up on living

so climb shadow climb

stretch your phantom limbs

and I'll stand here listening

stretching over this swollen chasm

to hear the whisper of sound that sneaks like a song

up the cold corridor

your steady footsteps and something else

that sounds like blood and beating

that sounds like living

I listen to the echoes

of this, your secret song

and it sounds like love like hope

it sounds like not alone.