“Stand: Jöseph ’s Heart” by Jöseph Lee Foster-Shumpert-Lear, 1996
Published 12 April 2004 :: Poetry
Read more by Jöseph Lee Foster-Shumpert-Lear
Upon the open mouths of your rooms
I once stood
With my back to the world
Which had left me
My back to the roses
Upon my grave
To the words preached
Upon my ears by all of you
But now something stirs
My long dead heart
Bringing new life
To my body
Stirring my soul
But What it is
I do not know
Once upon my body
I stood
But now that place
Where upon I rested
Lies dormant
And void
Unable to grasp at my tethered clothes
Or destroy my spirit
Who am I now
What have I become
Within the arms of a stranger
I have found a warmth
I have never before known
(though her face is not yet known to me)
And when her arms
I leave
The warmth remains
As a sweet memento
To tease my heart
And build a longing to return to her . . .
A cry in the night
Brings to my sight
A perfect angel
Lain with a silk cloth
And the scent of roses
In the spring
Once upon the closed gates of heaven I stood
As I do now
But my heart
To which I, here, did place
Has vanished
Leaving a note
A child is born
Bent over her now I stand
And as before
Blood is shed
But when my hand I do open
And bullet I do see
Yet, it is not my blood
But her mother’s blood
Which holds steady
The thief
Which stole my wife
Within the arms of a stranger
I rest
With this knowledge
In my mind
And this promise on my lips
Nevermore
Never again
Quothe this raven
Forgive my sin
