E Pluribus Unum

by the glow of our equality I keep myself inside and when the sun
descends I descend and furtive in the dark I take
my difference for a walk

a woman stands before me with an open mouth as if to speak
I fix my face into position something kin to understanding
I have settled all my awe and weary at our living into

if it’s all the same I say I reach my hand into the darkened day
as a woman turns her open mouth
closed and far away

and looking up we watch the kingdom on the hilltop
shift to rearrange and all the same
parts click and lock into their place

I move toward the living after all the only ones still here
for which I stand or rather have considered amity
and how much of a man am I what fraction

of me is mine and what belongs to a pattern
repeated endlessly I do not want to be afraid
I have decided I am not

afraid and in this hopeful state I call out to the living
we have been cleansed word has come down
from the hilltop we are one

people so we put our differences aside and quiet
our single mind we rest against the dark and let our eyes
adjust accordingly