Clearing Space

Before wall Before law Before any name could hold Rain came in Hunger came in Cold found the bone We cut back thorn where the children stood We lifted stone from the sucking mud We dragged dry branch from the broken wood And called that mercy when the fire took We carried water, carried grain Carried the sick through weather and pain Washed the cloth and turned the field Buried what the ground would steal Not clean work Not kind work Not work sung high in the hall Only the hand And the back And the weight of it all Clearing space Clearing space Hand by hand from the weather Clearing space Clearing space One more breath held together Push back dirt Push back dark Push back teeth at the door Not enough to be safe yet Just less lost than before Before the room, there was carrying Before the rule, there was burying Before the store, there was saving seed Before the prayer, there was something to eat Birth in the heat Death in the rain Ashes lifted and fields made plain No throne above No song of gold Just the old work Keeping hold Hands in the drain Hands in the blood Hands in the frost and the flood No one clean No one spared Where the first line was cut Clearing space Clearing space Hand by hand from the weather Clearing space Clearing space One more breath held together Push back dirt Push back dark Push back teeth at the door Not enough to be safe yet Just less lost than before No castle No garden No lamp in the glass No ledger No lesson No road through the pass Only weight Only weather Only bodies in line Making room for a morning That was not yet kind Clearing space Clearing space From the hunger and fever Clearing space Clearing space For the child and the keeper Push back dirt Push back dark Push back teeth at the door Not enough to be safe yet Just less lost than before We made no heaven We made no throne We made a place Where the rain stopped first And in that space A name could stay