I saw you at the river

Under oak, flailing arms up sloped

Braids swinging in between spring and summer

Eclipsed aloft, unaware of me

I reach out to you toward the water dipping as you watch beyond

We crossed paths three times

Your facial hair shading our faces touching upon future entanglement

Were you watching as our hands pushed on the past

The earth holding us under our feet

Under

The water swirled

Be by my side

Under the obsidian archway

I write to you as I know nothing of our timeline

Only that on a Thursday our suns entered orbit to become undone in an non-linear non-binary system of being

Flashes of heat, with mint and hibiscus to cool our sweaty brows

Our crowns crested with white oleander as we move into the protection of that oak tree dropping its acorns around us

Will my tears bring about the hopes I dream of you?

Not as idea but as whole embodied formed under an ease as you hold that staff of your own making

I am armored and padded by the wisdom of my ancestors

Their hands drawing out the oily sludge I have collected

Foul smelling

Combustible being for which was cast out

It is warmed by the salted bath

And dissolves

Exiting my skin as it’s peeled away by the suns renewing brilliance

I itch my way out of it

Little rolls of flesh falling to my bedroom floor

I hike through thoughts of you

And prepare for your coming

I know I have much to cleanse

Generations of accumulation

That my guides ask me to transmute so there is space for them to gently press outward

I am expanding

I am undoing what is not mine

I am ready to let go

Watching the water spiral down the drain I place my mind on the past year of rumination

The tub is empty and I am alone

Cradled by rose and lavender fragrances that rinses away the muck as I hug myself with words of flowering songs

We are not done

We have not yet started

But you are still there by the river

As I send you sweet greetings upstream from my current position