Your hand. Then no hand.
Dropped. In the wilderness.
Walk the valley. Not the ridge.
What about the drought?
No water. Not in the wadi.
Crunch. Settle. Snap.
Bones.
A riverbed filled with bones.
Bones crack. Parched. No marrow.
You. Me. And the bones.
Preach to the dry bones.
Crunch. Settle. Snap.
What if my bones are dry?
Preach. Preach anyway.
…
Preach til they rattle.
Til they live. Can dry bones live?
Oh, Lord GOD, you know.
But can dry bones preach?
Preach to the dry bones, Dry Bones.
Preach til they rattle.
…
If I say, Dry bones,
Live. Stretch. And breathe. Know I AM.
Bones, dust—defunct—live.
And if I say to you, Preach,
Dry Bones. I will speak.
…
I will preach.
Dry Bones to dry bones.
An earthquake. And a tremor.
A trembling in my bones.
A rat-rat-rattle.
A rattle-ing. Bone to bone.
Bones clatter. Chatter.
Sinew and skin. Sewn.
Shiver. Drawn together.
Bodies mend. Move. Stretch.
No breath.
Preach to the breath; speak to the wind.
Breathe, O Breath. Breathe on the bones.
That the bones may live.
But…
Can dry bones preach to the wind?
A skeleton speak to the Breath?
Wind resuscitate a corpse?
If I say to you, Preach,
Dry Bones, I will speak.
And if I say Breathe,
O Breath, I will move.
…
I will preach. Speak to the wind.
Even though dry bones hold no air.
A gust. Then a gasp.
Lungs inflate. And my lips part.
Inhale. Lips curve. Then exhale.
Mountain lake air. Cotton cool.
Zips along my ribs.
Bodies rise. And fall.
Rise. And fall. Breath-vivified.
An army. Animated.
Bodies drop.
Back to bone.
Dust to dust.
Look at the bones, Dry Bones.
The dead that fill the canyon.
My people. And listen.
Wind whistle-whips the rocks.
The hardpan echoes.
Voices in the gulch.
Our bones flake. Frail. Dry. Like charcoal.
Our hope? Lost. Severed.
Like flesh. Ripped.
And our ashes?
Calcified dust. Scattered.
Homeless.
Preach, Dry Bones.
Say to the dust, my people,
My words. Thus says the Lord GOD
I will ransom the dry bones.
Open the Grave. Reverse Death.
Put my Spirit in the bones.
My people will live.
The frail. Whole.
The lost. Held.
The homeless. Home.
Lips part.
Inhale. Curve. Exhale.
I will preach.
Dry Bones to dry bones.
Movement. The Breath breathes.
And the bones grow still.
My bones grow still.
If you say, Dry bones,
Live. Stretch. And breathe. Know I AM.
Bones, dust—defunct—live.
And if you say to me, Preach,
Oh, Lord, GOD, I know.
You make dry bones speak.
