New Covenant

I'm not supposed to tell you how to stop bleeding,but I done it. Why, little sister, one night, she came running

up the hill, the biggest sliver of skin, white as an old moon,peeled back on her hand, the blood sticky and just a-running

down her arm, and I remembered what they told me, what was writtenon the paper later thrown into the stove and made ash by hungry flames    running

along the edges; I grabbed her arm, clamped it tight, screamedagainst thin walls, head turned to heaven, the echo running

right back into my face, "and when I passed by my sister, and saw my    sister pollutedin her own blood, I said to my sister, live …" with all that rust smell just    running

into our noses in time with the rhythm of her heart, her wailing, the    Holy Ghost's handaround my neck, I rocked, I rocked until eyes rolled back and I swore I    saw thoughts running

through my own brain, the stars, snow covering tombstones, the purple    darkness beyond Jordantill the black came over us both, drums in our ears trying to catch up    with our souls as they ran.