And I Was Given a Night

And I was given a night in which peace lay
across my heart like a dog across my bed.
And I knew if I woke I would feel its weight
pressing down the quiet dark next to me.
And I knew if I turned on the light I would see
its limpid eyes watching, waiting, guarding until day.

August 13 2010

New England Wall

There is a world of sweat locked up in that rock.
Walls don't build themselves. That glacial piece
cost some poor farmer and a horse a day,
or maybe more, to haul it from its gritty bed
protesting all the way from there to here,
not far at all, but more than long enough
to make them bone-tired, soaked, and dizzy
with the strain; and still, it's big, but
only one, and who knows how many cousins wait
beneath the farther grass (and will they ever get
the planting done?) to make them do it all again.

August 13 2010

In a Hard Day

In a hard day air conditioning
is small but needed comfort. A needle
keeping to the midrange promises
safe return to home.

There, they will tell you of their triumph
in the parking lot, where two wheels apiece
are finally enough to carry both of them
around, around, around.

And you will listen, tired, still thinking,
to their voices and the sound
of you yourself decelerating
slowly to a stop.

August 11 2010

There Is a Burning Light

There is a burning light
toward which we all may turn
and some will trudge
while others fly.
Let us to the slowest walkers
say excelsior
and let the beating of our glowing wings
not leave them far behind.

August 11 2010

On Writing and Raptors

The animal waits;
a god
a bowl
a wind
a sigh.
It contradicts
breaks through
reveals
denies.

The hanging hawk is calling high.
A neutral sky
hides an upper plane.
The mate is wheeling
keeping company as she
cries suspended
in a search for something
wanted but unknown:
a meal
a child
a home
to farther fly.

Below, the work continues;
quietly, doggedly pursuing only
the requirements of this moment,
deliberately not waiting,
not looking,
unable not to hope.

The animal watches. When
will its caution subside, when
will it show itself, allow
the page to capture it;
and when will the hawks
be given their desire?

August 19 2010