With What Remains

Josh Summers

With what remains

I kneel in dirt, so dusty, so dry, so creek-bed-dead

I cry

I breathe in ash, so cinder, so charred, so colorless gray

I pray

I bleed

With what remains

Drops of blood splash

On barren earth in time with my wristwatch

Tick

Parched pale land swallows each red

Drip

A thirst never quenched, a glut with no

Quit

I plead

With what remains

______

I fled

Yesterday

Rotting in a pine box

So much

In the past

I knelt on gold, so bright, so bold, so filthy rich cold

I lied

I drank fine wine, so dry, so smooth, so sate with pride

I died

Like a loosed leaf

Dried

I saw what remained of me

In a creek bed

Dead

______

I plead from what is left

Mercy … God … please

Forgive

Grant another step

Consume time survived

Like a seed

In your garden of life

And if I bloom in spring

Let my reflection

Be

Your face

With what remains

Of me

In You

For Sunday Scribblings #271 "The next step" and Poetry Pantry #53