Torch Lake V - Baptism of Gold and Silver

Typically When you first detach your legs from your waist And plant them feet first From the dock ladder into Torch Lake There is a baptism scream back to those on shore They know As the cold cuts you in half The June sun shall take her time Reunifying toes to heart and body to mind Mixing warm blood to schools of deep green minnows A honeybee looks up from the oars of my elbows Flattened on its back wet to Purgatory I cup the froth in my hands Pour the living being to the dock Like a bead found from a broken necklace That bee must be conceiving of God I spare it our bond to randomness Let the creature define divinity Someone said to me They were sure I’d want my ashes To be spread here But I said no If you must know I’d like the weight of me To be buried in the solid ground back home From where I truly lived And as for this place? Let it be the gift it was And later A Navajo gift for other strangers But perhaps she will still remember me At our passing moment Cupping her hands My mistress Who visited with me from time to time When all was fleeting and perfect.