Brittle

O hollow hallowed bones,

So light, and lightly flung

Away, nested in flesh

And feather, fear and fight:

O breathless air,

In calcified traps concealed,

Never to nourish

The red blood, starved--

Where do you live

When flight stops

And the broken laws ascend?

You wait in caverns,

Through echoes of living drums,

For the ringing stillness.

Only rest within these walls.

No explosive without

Is known in sealed serenity.

Unless--fractured--

Exposed, unlocked, maimed--

Done to decay, gentle

After violent life. One fall

For many flights,

O hollowed holy heart-in-hand

You were never known

To live, til life were not.