BODY

Crimson-tainted, veined through with cracks
revealing everything it lacks
Flesh upon FLESH
Beneath the calluses of callousness
and blistered skin worn through to bone
by endless pacing, remembering, erasing
Stand atop this heart to numb the ache
Many have trodden here
a few have climbed
Upon this mere body which has aligned
              itself
Across the divide
where fear and fearlessness collide
Hands grasp one edge
feet the other
tearing internal holes to bridge
          this
the great abyss
Not belonging to either side
the dangling tightrope
where both the fearful and the fearless
play their games
where the songs of glory and of sorrow
create, haunted, lilting refrains

ily, 1999