Sacred Contracts XII: Death

Death is neither shadow  
nor luster of perception;      
but, the obscure expanse  
amid the forgotten—        
It’s the hollow snag  
who nominates herself        
for neither ritual nor obligation  
to the land of her sapling youth;  
the very spot the forest floor    
nursed her into becoming  
     
Evolution is a portal—
a continuum of bark        
and limb regenerating
through lives of descendants’  
dependent upon the cycle        
       
Death is neither noise nor the absence of—       
but the interval of silent partners  
linking formations of notes and words
into definitions that form our lives; 
it’s a musician whose message
returns to its place of conception—        
bequeathing a legacy: survive        
the mass illusion of deficiency           
       
Death is neither touch nor absence of caress;        
It’s Love's ombudsman returning victorious       
~