Trust Fall

You told me.
You said, Momma, I do not feel right.
You did.
You told me.
And then you showed me.

Your body convulsed,
pitched forward in an act of violent
aggression
and the ancient ones spoke through
your once pretty mouth
tearing open a portal into the bowels of hell
and you told me everything there ever was to tell.

I dialed the sacred three numbers,
pressed send
and ordered up a lifeline
dial-a-prayer, if you will.
...and wondered, will it work this time?

In a haze of white static, frantic, grasping,
breathe for you
pull you forward toward me
instructions
good
I can follow instructions
please, sir, may I have another

Pull you forward toward me
turn you
grasp you
hold you
You are no longer in the body
that lies limp, damp and heavy against me
You are no longer available to tell me any damn thing at all
Elvis has left the building
and taken you with him.

And then your eyes flutter open
Do you see me?
And you are howling like the banshees, pressed to my heart
like the night you were born.

The lifeline is still in my ear
umbilicus from some tower in Bridgeport
or Norwalk or New York City
Just where do these operators sit anyway?
In the virtual land of Donotletmego

And he did not.

The white haired superman in the blue uniform
has an open heart
which he is presently wearing on his face
as he opens the door, reaches in, touches your shoulder and pulls you
away from me
just a little bit
toward his light
and you answer him with
your name.

You know your name.

And the lifeline tells me that I have done well
and that he is going to hang up now
and I know I have been successfully
passed
from the disembodied but very present man
to the very embodied and just as present other man
and the sirens wind their way up the hill
pulling up just ahead and all these people
just like the crash cart when your sister was born
and we have landed...

... freefalling in the ultimate trust fall
for an eternity
or just a moment
into the waiting arms of our humanity.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.