Kintsukuroi
Your past is coming up
out of the earth
out of the poisoned pool
to devour your future.
Beating the ground
pounding with its hydra heads
keening
it is a monster you have not destroyed
even though it has riven
the mountain of your being
even though it has left its marks
across you.
Allow your scars
to be filled with gold
kintsukuroi of the spirit
what you have endured
no one can return to you
what you have suffered
only you can use to build
a better hereafter.
I deliver to you
with my word and breath
an incantation
for your healing
although we do not know
each other
I reach my hand through
the city
to scatter abundance
over you.
Repair work (right) on Mishima ware hakeme-type tea bowl with kintsugi gold lacquer, 16th century. Exhibit in the Ethnological Museum, Berlin, Germany. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction.
