Skin and Soil

Skin and Soil

To drop the cloth is to drop the wall,

To let the wind rewrite the skin,

No longer master of the hall,

But humble, quiet kin.

The river does not ask our name,

The cedar does not check our worth,

We strip away the modern shame

To melt back into Earth.

A leaf, a wolf, a human bone,

Each holds an equal, sacred right;

We sit upon the mossy stone,

Naked in the ancient light.

João Soares, 30.08.2024