morning diamonds

dropped
from the sky,
ashore upon
the sand,
and cut out
like diamonds
and disappointment

you stretch
the morning bandages
that keep you still
at night,
but keep you sore
in the day,
and try to
blink away the distortion,
the crack in the eye

you lift your hand
into the light
to see where the pain
is coming from,
but the shapes
stay out
of focus

so you place your hand
over the sun
and hold it still;
the flames
snake into your pores
and coil around
your bones

it hurts
to be still
and it hurts
to keep looking,
but it hurts even more
to know that
something is wrong

only you can't see it

you can't see it
because it is hiding
in the bend of light,
in the crack of the eye,
in the morning diamonds

the waves of the day
wash up your legs
and extinguishes the fire
between your fingers;
you lift yourself out
of the sand
and turn your eyes
inland and away
from the end of the world

your eyes blink,
with no effect,
and as you take a step
you ask for the strength
you expected to have

for the strength
you thought was there
all along

but must have been lost
during the night