Imagine when a human dies.
The soul misses the body
Actually grieves the loss of its hands
And all they could hold.
Misses the throat closing shy, reading out loud on the first day of school
Imagine the soul misses the stubbed toe, the loose tooth
the funny bone. The soul still asks,
"Why does the funny bone do that?
It's just weird."
Imagine the soul misses the thirsty garden cheeks watered by grief
misses how the body could sleep through a dream
what else can sleep through a dream?
what else can laugh?
what else can wrinkle the smile's autograph?
Imagine the soul misses each falling eyelash
waiting to be wished
misses the wrist screaming away the blade
The soul misses the lisp, the stutter, the limp
The soul misses the holy bruise
blue from that army of blood rushing to the wound's side
when a human dies, the soul searches the universe
for something blushing
something shaking in the cold, something that scars
sweeps the universe for patience worn thin
the last nerve, fighting for its life
the voice box, aching to be heard
the soul misses the way the body
would hold another body and not be two bodies but one pleading god doubled in grace
the soul misses
how the mind told the body you have fallen from grace
and the body said erase every scripture that doesn't have a pulse
there isn't a single page in the Bible that can wince
that can clumsy, that can freckle, that can hunger
Imagine that the soul misses hunger,
emptiness. rage.
the fist that was never taught to curl
curls, the teeth that were never taught to clench
clench the body that was never taught to make love
makes love like a hungry ghost digging its way out of the grave
the soul misses the un-forever of old age
the skin that no longer fits
the soul misses every single day the body was sick
the now it forced
the here it built from the fever
fever is how the body prays
how it burns and begs for another average day
the soul misses the legs creaking up the stairs
misses the fear that climbed up the vocal cords to curse the wheelchair
the soul misses what the body could not let go
what else could hold on that tightly to everything?
what else could hear the chain of a swing set and fall to its knees?
what else could touch a screen door and taste lemonade?
what else could come back from a war and not come back, but still try to live?
still try to lullaby?
when a human dies,
the soul moves through the universe
trying to describe how a body trembles when it's lost
softens when it's safe
how a wound would heal, giving nothing but time
do you understand, nothing in space can imagine it
no comet, no nebula
no ray of light can fathom the landscape of awe
the heat of shame
the fingertips pulling the first gray hair and throwing it away
I can't imagine it, the stars say
tell us again about goosebumps
tell us again about pain