Why Do You Wake Up At 3 A.M.?

        

   

Why do you wake up at 3 a.m.?

To make a home for the wandering angel

of this breath.

To hear the name of the Friend

in your heartbeat.

Why do you say, I am not this body?

There's a garden in your chest

where the sun and moon touch,

twining their gold and

pearl-white beams around a tree.

The tree catches fire.

From your belly to your crown,

seven blossoms, coral, crimson,

viridescent blue, other tinctures

too soft to name, songs without words.

And a chuppah made of clustered vines

beneath your rib cage,

where Christ meets Magdalene.

You are the priest of silence who unites them.

Their wedding is why you are awake.

Please don't say, 'I am not this body.'

Each atom of your dust is

nothing but the light

you've been longing for.

Painting: Marc Chagall