When we prance stupidly in the sun
The darkness coils into shadows
Beneath our feet
And we pretend we have escaped.
And when those shadows slither around our legs
And bring us to our knees
We cry out, “They’re back!”
As if they had ever left.

Suffering is transient
Eternal
But the middle way is a lie
Transcendent numbness.
Darkness and light
Not twins
Mother and child
Snakes, all.

Day and night, I hear them hiss.

You loved me
But I did not love you
Enough
Until now.
You gave me winding scars
That I might cut off their heads
And you cried when you were happy
Because you knew the price.

Death was not kind to you
But it freed you from the sliding, slinking things
That cling to us all
From birth to earth.
Maybe now, father
Without light or dark
Without a road in the middle
There is only peace.