This was originally published at The Rumpus on April 8, 2015.
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cum shot
how long has it been since
his legs stretched towards heaven?
lord, let him be, don’t strike him
for believing he’s you. he’s high
this morning, he called his body
his body & believed it
someone touched his body
did not pirate him away
someone rocked him
so good he danced to the music
of his own bones’ surrender
he was blessed enough to plead mercy
lord. let him wade the dead sea
of another boy’s quick milk
the church burned down
but people have gathered
shouting glory amongst the dust
Mars is still a soft red candle
on night’s thin sheet
it’s a good day to end a war
since that man did what he did
the boy’s been quiet, scarred
by a false god’s cross, but Lord
let ruin end here, let him find honey
where there was once a slaughter
let him enter the lion’s cage
& find a field of lilacs
let this be the healing
& if not, let it be
***
Danez Smith is the author of “[insert] boy” (YesYes Books, 2014), a finalist the Norma Farber First Book Award, and a second collection to be published by Graywolf Press in 2017. He is a 2014 Ruth Lilly/Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellow and will begin studies for an MFA at the University of MI-Ann Arbor this fall.
