Dressing Wounds

It can be taken in an instant
flesh from bone that is,
pulled back, away before you blink
and once your face is sheared, black and red
it becomes difficult to think

He lost sight of where he was headed
until he found himself lost
face-first into the asphalt

It's not that he was foolish
nor terribly askew
he just forgot from where he was headed
forgotten from where he had come

However it was remarkable

the way he lay there on the ground
for less than a split-second,
picked himself right back up
without pride or expression
Scarlet slipping down his face
clothing his hands

"I have to go take care of myself"
he said with a yet undefined purpose
and he strolled away through the darkness
to find himself some light
some water, some wisdom

To this day I wonder, where he had gone
to his house, to the hospital
or just maybe to a secluded stream
where he could find a bed of trickling water
to wash himself up in the moonlight,
bury his pain in wisdom

His rippled reflection put pain into perspective
forced the future into his thoughts
so many things to be accomplished
would have to be postponed
placed on injured reserve
a set-back he was unable to endure

But what's done is done
he thought
there is no changing the past
the time had come to face his demons
a moment he thought, that had come too fast
The world was drowning all around him, in sin and in flesh
he saw it in this water, rolling outward from his reflection

As he stared at his broken body
he noticed the pain melt away
felt a cool comfort glide over him
watched the stream carry away his blood.
It floated through the water,
curling and spiraling as it went
he saw minnows gulping at it
saw it absorbed by green algae

"This body is of the world"
he felt someone say behind him
"There's no need to worry over spilled blood."
But this body is all I have, he thought
It's the only reason, the only way I survive.
"Life is not burdened to flesh and bone,
it lives and breathes within you.
Something else, a stream of life;
it flows through your flesh, through your body."

He felt detached from existence,
he hovered above his pain
he felt consciousness of the brain release him

Everything I have worked to become,
every ounce of soul I have poured into life.
Not one drop has been spilled in this stream
Tomorrow I'll have to write, and read
think and observe the beauty of this world
Today my body died,
he looked down at his hands and cringed,
but Today my soul survived