Villanelle to Pio
Speak to me. Tell me that I am not alone.
In my voice only have I searched for truth.
Am I not still breathing. Awake. Flesh and bone.
Speak to me. Though you find me deaf as a stone,
help me to find the lonely, bloody son of Ruth,
who speaks to hearing ears that they are not alone.
Do you find me tragic, scarred, but now atoned;
atoned, yet now so old and of such little use.
But am I not breathing, living flesh and bone.
Take me to the victim sealed behind a stone.
I ran from him. The voiceless. The accused.
Speak to me. Sing, or else I stand alone.
I tried to kill myself with pills, so white they shone,
longing for words final as the hangmans noose.
Instead words, breathing, made flesh a heart of stone.
You, Pio, of one breath with beauty, renown
Voice of fire speaking goodness, breathing truth,
Will you speak to me, the naked and alone.