"first, do no harm...
well, my beautiful body,
you can leave fear
and eat now
(it is nineteen minutes past eight)
we see a tree
leaning
lonely
we see mist
an old volcano
a lake
an ocean
deeper
older"
I
My solemn copper beech
In soft black
Slow green glowing light
I hear him ask
"Well, what are you waiting for?"
His grey sentry arms spread wide
His massive silent trunk
Coated in moss and sun-dried blood
Perfect, sleek solid pillar
Light sculpted stone
II
Soft night showers signs
And we are touched
Wonderful wonderful tokens, each
Smoothing the path
Five green glass stars
Fall and fall, night after night
Her eyes big as the heavens
Offering solace, as things are
This, this place is earth
Here gods dole out breath
"this striking blue in green
light, almost breathable
translucent, like a natural spell
a dog, a dog, a dog
calling
grim, far across this lake
older than you
it is almost time"
II
The heavens, you thought, once opened
A deluge, one melting stream
Making it hard to steer your raft
And then it stopped, drip after stopping drip
Occasionally little blue bells burst
A memory, a minuscule cosmos
Iconic mysteries we call tears
Casting out all you hate
Celebrate this icy lapping
Accompanying our stern ship
IV
We are born slaves to change
Perplexed in blue agate caves
Late one morning in early summer
Slow marble clouds adorning heavens
Now, bare feet on a scaly deck
All you can see on the back wall
Is the trickster's frenzied dance
Round people fixed as bronzes
His flapping oily dark-brown hat
Greasy ropes in our cramped hands
"don't you see
the way
you wandered off
(why didn't one warn)
you never listen
my god
of lichen and moss
you watch people shaking
our fragile lives
gamelans of pain
and nostalghia"
V
You, conqueror, became ocean
Travelling your way
With spell-bordered maps
Under monkshood sails
You, living thunderstorm
Smooth water swishing branches
Sentry of boundless empires
Under this dark sky
Nomad, wanderer, you see
Sweet liquid moonlight eyes
VI
Still beating your frayed heart
A child’s voice in a winter's tale
"Branch, branch...leafy branch" it chants
Sleek trees aching to be real
No longer eager, we just wait
All craving fuller life
And later, warm under the cypresses
Two lovers surrender
Your old infant heart
Offering your own
"I wonder if we can descend here now
(and will we really see)
O, our everlasting need
in and of itself
to see other people
free of stranglehold
instead of
looking inwards
(don't look back)
very little to be applauded here
but we think we deserve it all
yes,..."
VII
Simply rub your eyes very hard
And it will always show, this light mass
Seven shiny crystals green will lift
From the shadows of wilder beasts
Warming each other, radiating something
A herd of private universes
Warm velvet, permanent lust
They bolster throbbing hearts
Only sneaky shadows in shallow caves
Tricking our own searching eyes
VIII
Every self-fulfilling swirl
Girls gathering round the well
Their backs turned to endless rain
What did we call this, …bliss?
It will not be enough, though
It will remain a vague miracle
O, how we wait
O, great attractor, painted icon
O, girls, rally round the source
Gods ordained over domains of good
"would I really turn into stone
(or did we, earlier)
to glance at her balanced beauty
auburn and golden honey
chestnut, even better
languid divinity
freckled skin
perfect lips
smile
saying
perfect
things"
IX
Idol, in marble and love
It is you, one and the same
Soft singing sheltering all
Dressed in lingering light
Ye bower of roses, domain of girls
Flowers of great beauty, you know
Weaving prickly nights of waking
Waxed residue dripping in oceans
In truth, we are weighed feathers
To lustrous idols of longing
X
There are signs at every crossroad
Like in Mycenae, where women, partially clad
Charmed old yellow stacks of stones
With hard diamond eyes, full of nesting desire
I know them, their prim mouths
Coupling admiration and fear
When three, and later ten of them
Made living statues prophecy
Life creating shrines
Night causing day