'so...you're staying another year'

Up and down
Slowly
Up and down
Her lungs heave
Like a wave her olive skin ripples
That peeling, soft, transparent cage
That's treated her so well with age
It would seem she was forgotten
In the quiet of the dark
In the company of the TV
Voices buzzing in the air
As if skin and bones were there
When only skin and bone-clad spirit
Is upstairs in the leather chair

Look in the doorway, Grandma
There hovers my ghost
She doesn't say a word
She doesn't speak with those
She speaks a language spoken with
Her head, her hands, her toes
She'll crawl up on your mossy bed
It won't matter who's alive or dead
She loves you, that spirit
I love you, I said!

And I hope you grow more alive with age
As you die to yourself
As you abandon the world
As your skin turns eternal
And your spirit meets mine
And you're never alone
For the Holy Fire
Burns
In your dark