The Surfaces we Touch

her soul rushes forward
and she can hear the sound of it
in her ears
as she sits
at the edge of alignment
dangling her feet in the ether
it swirls about her like rushing water

when the world disintegrates
she plunges in
down becomes up,
the cardinal points disappear,
and she floats like a free bird

what do you exactly want?
they ask her
or they want her to ask it of herself
but all she wants
is not to return to earth at all,
to live in the ether forever

or,
if she has to return to earth,
to this dry, parched matter,
she wants only to feel that which gives life,
that which lives beneath
the surfaces we touch