Archipelago: Tabula Rasa

As foretold, all the island

is made of brightness:

a curved honeycomb,

a feverish brain

cast from its skull.

I’ve come for cleansing.

The bees crawl into my ears

to begin their work.

They burn inside me

like many stars,

and all the tiny tombs

inside me open,

and each chamber

is lit clean, shaking

with the island’s wordless

reverberation.

The bees leave one

honey-bead on the roof

of my mouth:

a thought

that erases you

from me. Each atom

begins again.

Except for this one,

this black speck

still in my eye,

like your pupil

in the sunlight

in the last room

you entered:

I remember.

You saw me.