Recoil Child

Recoil child from the light that burns all rivers dry though some might seek to persuade you to endure its heat I say retreat beneath the rock where thin roots cling to the living dust and creatures lie still amidst bones licked clean and sharp for there where life reveres the silence and the shadow that conceals you will learn to crawl and feed upon filth as your flesh grows coarse and pale and your eye more subtle and your hand more savage while those without wither sustained by the frail conviction their souls are nourished through anguish are purified through their fierce contempt for we who breathe the fetid vapors which linger warm and close to the fertile soil forever singing their disgust with voices shrill for all who savor the sweet stench of loss and birth convinced in their condition of violent fever the seed is defiled in drawing strength from the corpse and the spirit contaminated by blood or color but I who have discovered cool and secret caverns within which to rest and feast know that truth flows capricious over stone in dark places and grace rises green from the earth’s wetness and I declare paradise is sacrificed through deprivation and gained of a moment through love impure