Reverence

I fell by the moonlight and splashed for a bit

In tumultuous shadows and labored to sit

In the crouching fluorescence that swims through the sky.

Hiding carved out tight ulcers and heaving black styes,

Here grow abscesses weeping, that sewage and broil

‘Til I languish in firmament, far from this soil

‘Til I’m sinking celestial, ‘til I shiver and smile

Misplacing the centuries, I’ll fade for a while.

These veins and dry rotting that I call my own

Will slip into specters until skin meets the bone.

Then the gaunt face will stare back through glossy white eyes

And my heartache will end as revered “temple” dies.