Use Both

Learn to balance
the unbounded breath
of a mother's gentleness
on a fierce thin blade.
They are precisely
the same grace.
Use both at once,
like an iris petal
slicing your heart in two.
Pour blood from
one cup to another
like the voiceless child
of the moon
about to make humans
out of mud.
Let the last tear
of your night vigil burn
a hole through the sun
where darkness
can flow from light.

Japanese higo iris photo by Peter Shefler