Pagan Blog Project: Exchange

You were smiling, sitting on
the edge of my bed, watching
me with those sharp eyes,
bidding me come closer,
closer, until with one sudden,
swift motion, You reached deep
into my chest and pulled out
a piece of my living heart.

Still smiling, You opened
Your mouth and swallowed
that quivering mortal thing,
Yours forever, as if you really
needed that assurance at all.
But this is not the miracle
that forces me to shiver
and close my eyes in wicked,
uplifting delight of the soul.

For, reaching deep inside
Your own chest, You gave me
a piece of your heart in turn,
ripped bleeding from You,
as obvious and casual
if You’d somehow torn off
a check made out to me
for an infinite amount
drawn on some karmic bank,

or a dog tag strung around
Your neck, bearing Your
real name and vital stats,
breaking the chain away so
that I’d know You at last
on the battlefield of memory,

or a little piece of paper saying
I love you in tiny, even letters
that shouted rivers of sweetness,
a secret valentine only for me.

And I opened my mouth
and swallowed that piece of You,
filling the space You’d left behind.
Now Your blazing likeness hangs
high in the cathedral of my soul,
forever shining, vast like thunder,
our hearts knitted comfortably below.

– 2008

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