GRIEF FIRST

In the desert

you made me walk through

the bones were dry

and brittle

scattered from a year

of torment

at the end

of their life cycle

hanging on for

whatever comes next

I want so badly

to be in green pastures

or deep wells

even the belly

of the whale

in placid blue

why walk me here

through the crisp bones

sapped of moisture

I have done everything right

right?

I want to be in

Green

wrapped in lush leaves

not sand and cloudless sky

not streaks from evaporated tears

not trackless roads

not barren wombs

not endless sky

not grief

anything but grief first