XV
SKELETON

Beneath the veil of your flesh the skeleton
is visible; it is the rock of your body which is           Genesis 2:23.
a rock from the rock of you mother.           1 Corinthians 15:14.
And if your rock did not flourish once it
was dead, our faith would have no purpose,           Psalm 17:3; Deuteronomy 32:4.
the world would be an unending futility;
our days would be filled with shadows
and mankind, no more than a shadowy dream.           Pindar, Pythian 8:136.
Lord, will you return as flesh and blood
at the end of our time, and under the spell
of your voice, like an army that rattles           Song of Solomon 5:4; Isaiah 26:19.
the earth to its core, will the bones
of those who sleep in the dust awaken
and sing with joy? And as your blood
spills over those resurrected bones,
will it cause them to flourish in bodies
where memory returns? Because memory,
Lord, is our Spirit; and going to sleep
on the pillow of memory, is a life
that is worth the cost. Memory is
the flower of eternity; it is the weighty
tome, the Idea-Flesh, and You are
the memory of God, the open book
of those who live; You have placed
the flesh of God on the bones of the earth;
You have been our rock and our breath!