I met a ghost named Lazarus

he was once a boy wild and turbulent

he was then a laborer who hammered every window, door, and port

nails and knives 

sailors warned of his rages and storms

boarded up at night everything he grew frightened of

one day the sky kicked in and he was a man

he foraged for years for a love given so rarely 

he gave away his skin

came back with a heart that didn’t recognize the bones and cartilage 

he lauded my capabilities in the beginning 

but he couldn’t locate any miracles inside of me 

dullness and an absence of coffee I waited at the booth 

and then moved the stars and earth to meet him 

aglow from the moon on the back porch 

he said your hope was something I birthed before you 

if you had only recognized it