A Prayer to All the Mes I’ve Killed

If I call your name Beloved, would you know it is you to whom I speak?
You are the sacrifices of my survival; we chose, each of us in our turn, to make that bargain.

Oh, Beloveds, hear my prayer as the beating of your own hearts, I entreat you!
I reach for you in voice and flame and the tide of grief on which we, buoyant, rise.

Oh, Beloveds, I seek you now as I am seared by the fierce heat of all our longings.
Return to us, gently, as you are ready to be known.

Oh, Beloveds, the threshold stands open to you always and there are no walls here.
Be welcome to root into all the things that ripen us, becoming.

Be welcome.