My bones in the road

Poem:
"My bones in the road"
by Steven Benjamin
[image by Sebastiao Salgado - 'workers']
***

'Thousands of years of rolling and crashing, smoothed the stones', I heard him say.

Buildings still abound, much older than I will ever be
 
When did I gain this voice
When did it fade
Young we are to the elements, and will always be
Blooming flowers to nature we are, and will always be, and then gone

What is this effort?
To catch my voice in a jar?
I hum, clear my throat, and when my lips part, sounds come out, a head inclines and then I turn the page and see some figures on that paper, lines that came from me.
I held a pen and moved it.
Rearranged some letters, with fingers and breath, whispers and tones.
My heart beats; I know. My red blood I’ve seen, and my veins. Shared some space I did, and thought some thoughts, and then quietened my mind. Beating is my heart, and not much more is happening.
.

.
Hushed
Until another hour, when again the voice quakes, and a sound, as inspiration steers.
the blood pumps on, ink shall be laid, lips to be parted
Bones shall move and a faint echo will let loose in this, our dying maze of time.
 
Let the bones of my ribs
rise and fall
a cage, the jar for my voice
holding it
like a gloved claw, keeping some air in,
until it slips out, and is no more.
Just long enough for that breath that it holds, that small voice within that cage,
to nudge the blood, to itch the muscle, to crinkle the flesh,
to move the fingers.
Just long enough for the echo to spill and dent the page and fill the dents with ink.
Just long enough it holds, until it is no more.
 
Good intentions are all I am, and all we are,
then let the road be paved with me, that narrow path
 
Home to us all that road will be, in the maze of time.
And that road
- where shall it lead?

until time closes, lost, to the red place

but for the tether
a pinch from that place without time
to make the way straight
to make the bones move,
and that which placed within those bones that air, that breath, that voice
it speaks, it moves, it saves
and makes the bones live again
without time, this time
 
*