all life is a day
dawning and dusking
golden light between the
twinned darkness
we find ourselves
here
this day
terrible in its
naked givenness…
is its contemplation
not the highest
form of consciousness?
i walk the green
path toward the
wine dark sea
are you here with me?
or will you slip
into an hour of
your own?
i feel the
sand beneath my feet
the pound of surf
upon the lightless shore
soon we’ll be
no more
when the weather grew cold
she came to me
trailing freshly
fallen leaves
crisp from morning frost
with hot tea and
warm bread
the sunlight golden on her
wind-blown head
her eyes all bright with
new welcome and
desire
I clung to her like moss
on a stone
inseparably grown with
ages of time
“you’ll always be mine”
she whispered
and the trees bowed
in solemn witness
to her words
and my heart bent
with those ancient woods
toward her
this time of year
is you to me,
even absence is in the
cool autumn air,
in fading light and the
fading flowers of the
forest glades
tired crickets give their
final performance
before cold solidifies the
grass and earth,
i wear a sweater that
reminds me of you,
i swear your scent is
on its threads
in the place you
rested your head
when i kissed it,
when i gave my heart
to a friend
you are a gift,
and in my deep gratitude
there is longing:
when will my blue eyes
reflect your face?
when will your touch
speak of the warmest presence?
how old we have become
upon the thin green plane,
rarer than any jewel
desired by blurry-eyed men,
it is the inevitability of it
all,
and our faded memory of
a truth known our first-breath’s
moment.
our default: complacency,
but has our love
ever been satisfied?
i burn with Being’s immanence
like the newborn star,
terrible, but the
giver of a
beautiful intensity.
Preface
[I am my own solitude
longing when distant
electric being
touches the light of two
and there finds me solitaire,
a kind of warm dark intimacy
with a breathing deep-seated
aspiration
to share]
i feel like we could be friends, if we could get beyond the mask of this heavy being. the imposition of this crushing moment. it’s a kind of love letter you know? it’s real and without pretension, (as much as any mask could be). it’s written in my diary for the day, part of the public record, there for archaeologists to decipher:
“here loved a man”
who were his enemies? “he must perish by his own hand. it’s the honourable thing to do, it is.” but this light between us doesn’t take orders from the basement. so let go yes? release the other’s hold about your neck. breathe with me fully for the first time. then eternity in our eyes, our fingertips, our lips.
night would turn to day
if you stayed
with me beside the sea
or here upon this hill
until the rosy dawn
and all the sparkles
on the distant waves
would witness what
we gave each other
oh tale for some
far time
pure and diamond set
on the finger of a dream
gleaming in my eye
of ocean blue
a radiant yearning beam
sailfished-eye by
glint of golden sun
procure for me a dream
wherein grass-breezed
beaches blow your
radiant eyes.
is it a dream
or do i die?
the brilliant golden
land draws near,
my home upon
the warmest
far off hills and
dawn of southern sky
for you alone
i die
There are greater things than the
Idea of your gods
For gods can never know the
Friendship of wanderers or the
Sky-eyed host of grasstreaders,
Oceangazers, treetouchers
But that was the test wasn’t it?
God is:
“That than which nothing
Greater can be conceived”
But I can conceive it
And its conception fills me like a
Star-lapping wave,
With a truth that didn’t come
From a book,
It surpasses the paper gods,
It is greater by a green mile,
By a host of singing lights
That illuminate my heart,
It is the love of a dear friend that
Shares the long road and
Sheds my tears
The sunlight through the trees
Upon the infant’s pure eye,
The space between our
Longing and Eternity,
Present at every moment
For those with
Eyes to see,
Good hearts, and
Faces turned toward the
Rising lands and waters
There will be a reckoning
For these thunderous
Seeds we have planted in the
Deep dark earth between us
When this green sprout reaches
To the crackling heavens
Will the sky not be split in
Two?
Will time not disappear and
Moment’s breath cease at the
Coming of the thousand-leafed
Wonder we have birthed?
Is there enough sky to contain it?
a moment to share the
dazzling beauty of earth
traces of the sublime in
your eyes
please just a moment from
busy days and lists of tasks
eternity in some time
together
it’s too much to ask on
days like these
days i walk through trees and
flowering fields
while the promise of summer
storms pushes wind through my
long hair and around
blue eyes
scent of wildflowers in
nostrils hungry for something
real and fresh
why are we at such odds?
has complacency replaced the
ever-present moment?
will you chase a list into the
grave?
time will see us out the
flashing frame of life
but can it be together?
Sky in Your Eyes 