AS IF HE LIVED ALL LIVES

lines of light awake

each page a mourning 

muscle bends

in dust a flare 

tributary  synapse sparks 

inch forward blossom 

 of  a winter London

 worn inside a burrow

collapsing with every visit

   of nervous chemical corona

angle poised

to come in

And ah, 

so much to each intake 

breathe above fuming vats

our daily intolerance in

following footprints 

 worn over 

             slipping on quick lime 

pulsing at a pace 

guide of the Ganges river

smoothed over acid green 

look down see the estuaries 

                     or look back at the dead

                       to draw out

the living light

  that comes crawling to meet us.