Pay attention.
Having fallen
In this era of error,
We’re re-raised among wreckage.
What happened to us,
We asked. A true inquiry.
As if we’re simply the affected.
The recipient, to which
Such rambling trauma was sent.
As if we did not give the very cry
To which our bows were bent.

We labor equally
When we fall as when we rise.
Always remember that
What happened to us
Happened through us.

We wonder how close
Can we come to light
Before we shut our eyes.

How long can we stand the dark
Before we become more than our shadows.

Pay attention.
Concern is the debt
We always owed each other.
***
This is not an allegory.
Descend into ourselves,
Like a fruit caught by its own branch.
That clear plunge is the beginning 
Of what we ought to become.
***
Say our feet miss a step—

Shock zagging hard-up our veins—

—Even our foot forgives the ground.
The blood jaggedly striking in our veins
Reminding ourselves we are perishable
But prevailing, living & livid.
   Sometimes

                 the fall
 
                        Just makes


                                      Us


                                            More



      
                                                       Ourselves.