Everything Beneath

“we have yet to break the surface”
I whispered
after hours of scratching the stars away
from the sky with my fingertips
to cusp them inside of my hands
and feel their light.

I had every intention of stripping
the darkness from the night –
of pulling the constellations away
from their imprints within the atmosphere
to reveal Him

because years ago,
Father had told me that
“God is in everything”

and from then on,
I chose to move my body gently and eat slowly,
to swallow Eucharist
in the smallest of pieces
and nibble timidly around

the cores of peaches in the case that
He was within its pit, and
whenever I close my lips –
I can feel Him extend His legs,
pinned in all directions beneath my tongue,
shaping my words from biblical psalm,
pulling sin in strands of prayer
from the lining of my throat …

I can always feel him,
not heavy of a burden
but wise,
spread evenly about my skin,
in everything I see and touch …

holding Him, the stars, my pulse,
parts of Him,
inside my hand
realizing that no battle had ever
been fought and won alone.