Blood Diamond

I circle back to you
continually
Back to the rough-edged
hole in the earth
agape and still raw
left raped and rendered.

The once fresh, moist earth
lying in clumps around
the deep chasm
where we found the blood diamond.

Our blood is in that dirt.
Its chemistry and iron still sit in the soil.

This ruby-stained mirror
is what I am left with.
It is what I see the world through
everyday.

I still taste the salt and the dust,
I still breathe the hot underground air
and feel the sweat on my face.
I remember how dirty our hands were,
grit and grime.

I remember our shocked pleasure,
our wonder and awe
as we lifted it out of the earth,
not daring to believe what we had found.