PROLOGUE:
a large, ancient native american tribe used to practice tending the light;
a fire pit in a temple village elders say contained the first flame,
here the fire was fed, and loved, usually the only source of brightness
the smokey orange glow would roar
all the time from dusk to dusk, from every moon to every sun,
always burning generations after generation,
considered one of the highest honors to be tasked with tending the sacred flame. But like all things, one day it went out.

I)
Eons slipped by.
Darkness, thick brooding mists
with intermittent, iridescent flashes.
Most people slept.
Few unabashedly watched,
mesmerized by the brightness,
caught glimpses of sacred rhythms.  


II)
Heartbeats synced--
the awakened ones linked arms,
wandered into the void,
toward
the  
( ( (source) ) )


                    **III)      
            Sounds
                             r              
               s      r     o       ed
             u            nd

them
wrapping around like a crystalline ivy.
vibrating bodies buzzzzzzed fuzzzzzzzzzy love.
glistening liquid amethyst crystals trickled from eyes.


IV)
Silence.


V)
They returned
with different faces,
every inch of skin vibrated
=ancient symphonies=
their chests glowed psychedelic explosions
of mellifluent wind chiming colors.
Dancing and humming awoke others.

VI)
Soon, more hearts & bodies swooned,
swooping cartwheel rainbows blooming like lilacs in June
light
<<ignited>>
from the darkest crevices
dissolving shadows and silhouettes
connecting all like mushrooms talk
the blindness gone
acquiesced to songs
of connection through breath, heartbeat, ground and life.


VII)
Bliss again,
the world burns like a roaring ******
of warm flame.