How I Lost My Faith

Beneath the earth
endless fields of poppies bloom,
mostly red, but minglings
of every color, even blue
and far above them egrets fly,
stark white against the everchanging sky.
I tell this to the morning light,
my only sister
(all other such are lovers).
When I lost my faith
I lost the world as well
and put my trust in heaven.
Now all work is fed to the fire.
All tenderness is given away to children.
Although the summer lilies call out my name,
I answer only to the grasses.
My bruises I call stones.
My fevers are named flowers.
The tumors within me are swellings of desire.
My thousand wives are my soul.
My heart calls me a liar.
When I lost my faith,
I decided not to live
as I would have done.
Soaking myself in explosive elements,
I awakened to the sun
and found myself forgotten by everyone
within my nature.
Now the butterflies must search my dreams
to find me.
Now the sleepers must reach out to me
in their dreams.
Now the faithless pray to me
as I melt into the warming days.