Advent

Meaning a coming into place, 
                      a sharpened focus—

                                                                    the cloud 
lifting from around the viewfinder, arrival 

                                        as counting toward the next
commemoration. A sky  

              sarum blue but not yet comet-slashed— asterial altar
with tiny windows you'll open night
      
                                                                              after night, translucent 
as skin. 

                  Imagine walking through a desert— unshod 
                                        feet needled with hotcold points from the earth,

giving you back your place in this kingdom of  blood
                                                                                         and perishable light. 

Hawk-high, sand-blasted, burnished; crowned 
with gold, a tintinnabulum   

                                     fingered with the keys of heaven; the body
                                                       unlearning itself as beast for constant taming.