Waked

Father, your snow falls

like leper's sores,

like scales from blinded eyes.

Father, it falls like

your bread from heaven.

Your every word

falls like that,

and washes--

Oh, Father, the crust

falls from my dead heart.

The earth breaks

and the tomb creaks open.

--as white as that,

when the smear

and the maggots have been on me

not for three days,

but from the womb!