one step closer

[Guest guest]

one step closer

"Whither is thy beloved gone?.... ....My beloved is gone down into the

garden." -Canticles 6.1-2

once again, you have brought me hereyou have taken me by the handbeloved why have you forsaken me

yet once again, beloved, sharp silence

lead me from the gardens of solomonfrom the place of the full moonthe

dark scent of floating jasmine dripping with the seduction of

midnight

yet once again, beloved, dull sorrow

i call to hear my echo in silencei reach out and you are not therei

see your back still before memy wet feet of clay are mired in dank

weeds

yet once again, nothing, again yet once more

with pierced hands i plead for merciful death i am become the place of

the hanged mani am become the place of crucifixioni am become the

place of atonementi am become the place of the empty skullwith broken

heart i fall on shattered knees

i am gethsemane, the garden of death

my beloved throughout ages light and darki cry as your first born whom

you neglecti weep as your unsuckled innocenti moan as your faithful

lover betrayedi wail as one unclean for death's sweet kisswith

nothing left i surrender nothing

yet once again, nothing, again yet once more

how many times must you destroy creatureshow many times abort your

spawnhow many times canker the rosehow many times must you kindle the

fire

yet once again, beloved, hot sorrow

dripping with the agony of midnightthe dark scent of burning

jasminethrough the dark side of the dark moonreaching still deeper

into golgotha

yet once again, beloved, cold silence

you have taken me by the handonce again, you have brought me here

one step closer to the heart of darkness

eloi, eloi lama sabachthani

broken as i am, beloved, i comei am my beloved's and she is mineshe

feeds me darkly beneath the lilies

mark christopher valentine(october 11, 2001)

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