At the End

Photo by Hà Nguyễn on Unsplash

I can’t be the only person who ponders about rituals of the ends of things. Even in the midst of catastrophe, my heart longs for the comfort of losing myself in ritual. This is a dream of one way we could mark the end of the world.

At the end I want you all

to tattoo your skin with Stargazer Lilies --

cover yourselves in the intimate pink shades of a newly opened blossom

put a touch of light on the end of the stamen

revealing the slick wetness of a mature flower.

Cover your bodies in henna-hued pollen,

encase yourselves in fragrance

head to toe

shoulder to shoulder

front to back

take yourselves out to the fields

and when the wind blows --

you dance with it

just like the flowers that cover your skin.