The Way

We killed the messenger.
We killed the messenger.
We killed the messenger.
So, what else could you do?
You would only have one chance.
What to take?
You had to travel light.
What would fit into the skin of a man?
You entered the darkness
of the womb of the one who gave her "yes."
And grew from a seed
into a babe
into a boy
into a man.
So this is what it was like
to have an outer edge
beyond which you could know the world only
through a smell, taste, a sound, touch,
through a play of light and shadows and forms and spaces,
through words that wrapped around ideas
that filled your mouth so full, you had to speak them out.
Through a feeling that lightened your heart,
quickened your breath,
and burst from your mouth in a laugh.
Through a feeling that weighted down your heart,
wet your eyes,
rolled down your cheeks,
and escaped from your mouth in a sob.

And the sweetness was beyond anything
you had known this side of eternity.
So that when it came down to the end,
you found yourself pleading
"Take the cup away."

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