Rasunah Marsden

Valley of the Believers
I'll say it this way:

you know they’re going to
walk deep

into the forest & dissect it,
they’re going to bring
microscopes & dirt samples &
there’ll be seekers

of wine & the bread I broke
with you

or anyone. they’ll peer
between the leaves

& note the smudges, yes, &
they’ll find the bodies

strewn everywhere, & there’ll
be a collusion

of confusion & blood &
screams,

(some of them mine) & they’ll
gut the place

of gold & emeralds &
desecrate my sacred ground
& they’ll water down every
element

of purity & quality they find,
except for one thing:

by that time, you’ll be able to
smell me

in their pores, & I’ll have
touched upon

the essence in them

of every thing, & in that valley
of tears

we shall already have

become One.

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