I, Lazarus

I, Lazarus*, have seen the brickwork sky, Its throne is made of night! Its salt and lime are drying to the eye, My wandering… a sound! a rumble, and a flash of light! HHHHHHH! How sweet first breath! That tasting life had tasted only death! And what is THIS, that thuds against my tomb? Awaken, Heart! And greet thy new-found groom! Who is HE, that speaks with sudden waking, As though forgotten dawn was newly breaking? I cannot know, though memory tells me so, I am a Man, and not a man of dough! O bright the door that leads me back to life! But, bidden! I must change my sleep for strife! Thank you, heart-friend! I thought that you’d forgot! Who made me breathe, ‘I AM!’ when I was not. Forgive! I cannot hear, my head’s like snow, AH! That’s it, ‘loose the man, and let him go!' 1/31/2017 __________ *Lazarus was a friend of Jesus Christ, who raised him from the dead