Single Light Poem by L.B. Temuco

I walk always, somewhere,
always with the air beside me
down underfoot, still white shadows,
of flight, of water
between sediment and ageing flesh,
of silver fish, the sun on their backs.
Do you think I do not wish to in the night
send back the leaves to the trees,
cup its moonlit pale of tears,
steal corpses from the cold ground
feel the swell of foam in our mouths
to feel the heavy fathomless tides of us
Do you think I do not wish in the night
to be deaf to the sounds of broken sinking wood,
to avoid this bitter nocturne of regret.

The unavoidable
drowning, the final wetness of life
Where you are now is safer
the scalpel in your brain
the sweet tumult of words in your eyes,
staring at the sun, a pouring of the earth
veracious boulders sliding from darkness,
the child Esperanza again in your veins
But still, you are my bleeding
Yes, still!
In clouded plasmas, shallow sanctuaries
I walk always, waiting,
always for you
to come out from
the silver naked lifeless trees.

I want for you
to come out of the trees
lay crimson fingers on my arm
lift me gently from the earth,
to mend the moon, to hear Kronos
call back its oceans to Elysium,
to bathe in its circle of streams.
I cannot leave this blissful place
without tasting death,
I sleep immortal, awakened
the earth in the sky,
I fear to ever shake the cold hand of loss,
to embrace the loose skin of nothing.
I never knew.
I cannot separate you.
from the breath on my face.
Still, you are a single light
Yes, still
I walk always, somewhere not far.