(Parenthesis) and Exclamation!

When I fainted on the pavement

I observed my body lying crumpled below.

Hands and faces woke me whole.

Caught out of time

that moment watching

stirs

(before and after life.)

I have hovered

to see my body an empty shell.

I Am its lover; I wish it well.

Now is all that keeps me

from before and after. 

I stay here

to do the work of love and laughter.

I have dived

to where the deepest shadows are,

and at my center

I have found a star!

© Tamara Rasmussen 2018