THE UNSTRUCK BELL

Tracing circles in the sky

above the cabin in the woods,

tethered to the broken woman

just outside its door

Oh, that I could help her see

her heart, an empty vessel

willing even though it’s cracked

to hold a little more

That I could hold a mirror

to the light within her still

to the place inside where he still lives

the ways that he will never die

But fragile are the stitches

made in haste to mend the heart

so here I’ll pass the time it takes

tracing circles in the sky

That I could give to her a heart

as quiet as the unstruck bell

to replace the tattered drum

barely beating in her core

But should I fly as an umbrella

meant to shield and keep her dry

she would only miss the rain

and surely pray for it to pour

So instead I’ll fly above her

tracing circles in the sky

ever tethered to the body

that I used to call my home

Keeping safe with me her voice

to sing for her until she’s whole

until the day that I return

to settle back into her bones