SINS

i know my sins

am too familiar
with the dark

am more intimate
with the shadow
than the source
and so know how
darkness
sticks
to the soul
and holds it
pressed against
the flesh
and sinks it
to the bottom

i know the
soft sand
there
and the twisted
roots of trees
and damp branches
where spiders
hang their webs
and do the dirty
business
of sucking
the life out

i know
where my ghosts live
and conjure them
on lonely nights
and ask the only question
that ever really mattered,
but get no answer