Rebirth
(as a distinct possibility)

“Bin ich im Basalte wie ein noch ungefundenes Metall?”
(Am I within the rock like a metal that hasn’t been mined?)
      –from Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Das Buch von der 
        Armut und vom Tode” (1903), 
        translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy

after the year’s first thunder
to have half a chance at restriking the coin of your soul
take refuge with twenty-eight sparking stones
set close and low in the almost darkness
in clouds of steam your ore will melt
and pool in your heart
as you accept the stones’ offerings
and sing your sweat in gratitude

old tarnish falls away in layers as you crawl out wet
to meet the stars