If you ask how long I\u2019ll live,
\nI reply,
\nuntil my mission\u2019s done,
\nuntil light no longer sprinkles from a shaker,
\nuntil I no longer squat in the dust
\nand celebrate the joy of Jackie\u2019s joy.
\nJackie and I have descended from planets,
\nfrom moons,
\nstarlight scattered by the rain,
\nwind flowering in the sky
\nwith the face of snowflakes,
\nsand, fog, the open secrets of the earth.<\/p>\n
My mission stops
\nwhen I no longer hear poetry in my heart.
\nWhen the dust dissolves,
\nwhen my mouth loses its thirst,
\nand my hands no longer feel
\nthe extension of my hope.
\nBut let me ask you,
\nwhen do you stop breathing?
\nWhen do you turn your face to the wall?
\nWhen do you taste nothing,
\nand wish for nothing?<\/p>\n
That is when you die,
\nwhen the mold has been cast.
\nWhen the wild plumage of your soul
\nsinks back from the sky,
\nand you sleep, a lost bird,
\na drowned fish,
\na flower pressed by time
\nand scattered like colored dust.<\/p>\n
My friend,
\nwe never die,
\nwe never lose our mission,
\nwe only become tired of spite and lying,
\nand cold indifference.
\nAnd the loss of playing,
\nof running like a child
\nand asking nothing except to be
\na wild thing,
\nwith the ocean in us,
\nand the sky.
\nAnd the roads from dawn,
\nthat provide a lane from star to star,
\nand we like all wild things,
\nare gentle, and wise, and open,
\nand innocent as a shore
\ncovered with jewels from the sea.<\/p>\n
Forever is nothing to us.
\nWeight an illusion.
\nDarkness, the edge of a smile.
\nOur mission,
\nto be as a breath of innocence
\nin a universe,
\nbarely existing beyond a kiss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you ask how long I\u2019ll live, I reply, until my mission\u2019s done, until light no longer sprinkles from a shaker, until I no longer…<\/p>\n