I Swallowed the Mountains

The "floating island" of the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah/ Photo by the author

When I die
I am content
To have lived my life
In love.
The caresses of so many lovers,
The trail of light left behind
By my passion

Where life has dropped
Darkness,
Like the sky at midnight
A blue-black pall
Whose stars have died
Long ago,
Yet whose light beckons
With wild contentment.

I would rather love
And sacrifice all my virtues
For a single night
In your bed,
Wrapped in your brawny arms,
Where security fends off
The angry and jealous God
Of old.

I leave behind kindness,
And in my wake
A belief in the divinity
Of desire,
Whose hands have unlocked
The hidden chambers
Of my heart.

I stood alone
In the midnights of my lust
Awaiting the dawn's promises,
Where pink and soft sky
Removes the sharp
Corners of my experience.

Hallowed earth, come
Silence, I receive you gratefully
Sleep, you are only a dream to me
When I am in the arms
Of my Gods.

I came to the lonely mountainside
Perfectly aligned with discomfort,
For the rewards are granted
In proportion to the sacrifice;
Thus hardship I commend you,
Suffering, I stand unafraid in
Your mighty shadow.

For I am in the company of spirits
Doves carrying an olive branch,
A light glinting with the vitality
Of the imperishable stars.

Clad in somber purple,
The elements come to my feet
With their gifts;
Solitude
Resilience
I shall come again,
And when you feel gripped by passion,
You will know that I am near.

How content I am
To be here and alone in Eternity
Never truly alone
As long as your faith endures.

Remember that the best of me
Has been planted in the best of you.

Remember that I was the strongest
In the dark,
Where the indomitable sky
Takes possession of the earth,
Where the mountains devour time.

But in the end
You will see that my love
Was stronger than Gods or men,
For I was the voice whose hunger
Became the peace in your heart.

I was reborn in your love
The day you first came to me,
When I swallowed the mountains.