Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Very truly, I
                tell you, no one can see the kingdom of
                God without being born again." —John 3:3

Jerusalem, before sunrise

Thesis: That the body cannot repent
of its own nativity, cannot re-form,
like water can, into clouds or ice
or tides. That the body can only pull

forward: does not Ecclesiastes say
the silver cord snaps, the golden bowl
crashes, the jar is shattered at the spring?
So I have it in my annotations: the body

ages, bones raging to return to crushed stone,
decomposing leaves. The living body,
by the time it's old, must be full of earth
ground into its pores—from decades

of work or play or travel; or from inertia,
bands of dust settling, as onto bookshelves,
into layers of marrow—so fertile, flowers
could bloom from anyone's eyes or mouth.