CALL ME BELOVED

In this new year I shuffle my tarot deck,
fray the edges, no more wincing. Accept
wear and tear, welcoming all wounds
like old friends; indulge their rambling
about each terrible fable, catalogue stories
and no more smothering them out silent
like hiding bodies under the floorboards –
this year I allow myself to be found.

I lost myself in the echoing hallways of
loneliness, canvas-white empty rooms
strung in a web of hope and longing like
veins and arteries just under the skin,
like hiding under floorboards – struck
blind by possibilities, bright like a sun.
I’ve only just stepped outside. Ready to
take my own hand – no more wincing.

I’ll fray all of my edges, ramble, abandon
endings – I’ll omit the shame, just the joy
spilling over my lips like gems, silver coins,
they’ll strike the floor like church bells ring,
twist open the handles to each lonely door,
spilling light down every darkened hallway,
sing empty rooms full again, lost, now found