BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS
there is a quickening in the forest
robins sing to us of universal sharing
as the earth calls us
to hear again the song of life
a thin brown layer of soil
is all we have
between ourselves and oblivion
a new language is needed
drums from Africa
echoing through termite mounds
to the savanna of a loving way
I made a choice
to be vegetarian, then vegan
clearing rivers from waste
and sky from methane
fear is contagious
but so is compassion
and it begins with me
how quickly it all goes by
in this moment of light and despair
I find what nourishes me indelibly:
the touch of a lover’s hand
worlds within a plant
tears as family members in silent movies
embrace Shakespearean deaths
my poems stumble
impatient to journey
as ghosts march from the tunnel
looking to us for resurrection
I have treated life
as a problem in accuracy, balance and proportion
but my careful ordering
is not sufficiently capacious
I say these things at age 80
because I burst with things unsaid and undone
I ride the waves
but do not see the stars
until I am swept under
denial is no longer possible
as a warrior traces his exit
from literal to mythic
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