MEMORIA

MEMORIA

Now memory! Sing of all those almost forgotten things
The nakedness of those first journeys.
Falling down out of myself to swim
In the round green pool of the lover's eye.

That great green stone, childhood's companion,
Fed my nights with an unwinking luminosity.
The radiance of an inner sun stood sentinel
Above the tides day and night.
And I ran and swam
And hid in wooden boxes outside under maple trees
In thunderstorms.

My sleep was deepest in the worst of weather.
Thunder and lightning were the covers
I pulled over my boy's head.
I lived with the sad God and the sad Goddess
And a torturous brother named Pete.

At seven I had fallen far down from Heaven.
Let loose in the world, I sought the lost light.
Looking over my shoulder I wandered down the days.
Many times I looked with wonder at my empty hands.
And said to myself, " What for? What for?
Where the sword? Where the stone?"

Woman came to me with arms widespread.
She made of time a burning fountain.
And out of heart's blood a joy yearning to be bled.
Fearing blood and it's future,
I tore my hands from love's eyes and heart.

And now I careen
Through jungles of streets searching for love
And a Green Stone.

JUNE 1978