Priceless transactions

Concealed in the pain

In the mundane

Lives wasted, gone unnoticed

Conceal the growth and movement

Places traded, roles reversed,

Batons are passed with none the wiser,

Least likely to succeed wins everything

With no one there to see

But the collective

Arms open, to receive the newly freed

Who, escaping unaware, leaves behind a shell of reputation

To confound its tormentor,

Urging the shell about rights, loss,

betrayal, deception, needs, and safety,

“what is wrong with you?”

But the shell is empty

The prisoner, freed

The lover, awakened,

The flesh, abandoned.

No longer her man,

No longer his woman,

Joined to the collective,

Filled with life,

Perceived only by the others.

Let the dead bury their dead,

Recite no more the rite of bereavement,

Shush, close your mouth and listen

Until you hear that voice,

The one in the pain,

The one in the loss,

The one in the rejected,

The one in the sorrow,

In all that you fight so hard to avoid,

Calling you to life,

To join the long lost,

Among the many,

Cherished by all,

Loved as one,

by the One.

The guest list contains but one name.