A farewell to nakedness under the rulers of night and day

I will paint my lintel with blood
I shall swear this common oath
this liminal speech, this threshold sign
warding off coming death

like trees do the sun with their cantilevered limbs
a grove planted over for whom it belongs
a grove of shiloh
like trees I shall hide behind
a hidden force

I shall place my hand then under heaven's load-bearing thigh
I shall paint the beams with sunset blood
and I will no more need sun or sky.