Masala Chai

Fall and follow down the river Walking the sacred streets in silence How imbued with the ethereal mist of prayers are these tables These wooden chairs I sat in and wrote the diaries of my youth I wrote lies with causal power Constructed the material from ideas Spoke over the waters and found land Eat a candy cane to cover the scent of rolled tobacco on your breath And get on a plane Green busses down cobblestone lanes Follow them like purple orchids on the terrace Fall and follow down the river A brown bench, Balding fog Sit like kneeling at the altar of the saint of childhood innocence Repeat her prayers Chant her mantras Sing her hymnals Ritual tower chimes with hell’s fear behind it Rope and brass that dare not fall or falter Down the river Ripples like innumerable green eels screeching through the sacred heart of our Lord and city centre Mornings like Masala chai and sunshine How infinite and unceasing the heartbreak of those who love too deeply How inevitable the prolonged fall of the great Like eighteen razor blades Shot through the sunrise Bitter fruit of memory merciless No amount of sacrifice can atone for the imperfections that lie beyond the boarders of my control But I hail Mary nonetheless Fall and follow down the river Mother Mary cannot hear over the pounding power of the current So seal your lips with black clay And do not cry For there is nothing more to mourn Morning comes ripping down the track like a freight train Tarantula clouds and sunbeams scamper over the sockets of your log-laden irises Bleeding indigo from parallel razor blade canyons Filled with the ghosts of things you were never promised Masala chai oversteeped like the strong scent of river memory Tremble tell me I’m forgiven In your white robe anointing oil Tell me I’m the chosen one Incense and bloody knees from kneeling at sandpaper pews Getting drunk of Eucharist, the Holy See, Oceans of archives, history, prophecy, Frankincense and myrrh, Frankenstein, the Light, the Vine and highways through the suburbs Jump off bridges Fall and follow down the river An eye for an eye And a stitch for a stitch Mile for mile river prayers define and drown me Thick slabs of scripture separate me from my sisters Masala chai and sunshine Vaseline and pale northern light clear the black river clay from your pores Embrace the snow Teach yourself to love the suffocating questions that burn and blind you Retroactive sacrifice still requires fresh indigo blood Donate freely. Fall and follow Down the river To the sea Salt water heals all razor blade wounds Even the self-inflicted The choices you make to be good or great are swallowed in the moon tide Sticky tie-dye bruises erase themselves with time and prayer Like cups of strong Masala chai.

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Written by

ariel-evangeline-baptista

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