1

 

Awoken by light, I scratch the glass

of dreams, and find myself

stepping free of shadows and silence.

 

In the distance a star was absorbing

my tiredness, and itself heading like a pilgrim

towards you, leaving blank its place in the heavens.

 

In the green pits of our being our inner

threads yearn; this radiance, that makes me feel I own

herds of horses, am as inspired as any knight –

 

what is its source? Shocked

into words, I defied the book-burners, the suffocators

of thought and feeling, all who’d censor and shroud knowledge.

 

And a violet blossomed fiercely in the bosom of the sky.

 

2

 

Star Woman,

the memory of our embrace still lives

in this bed, adjacent to your dreams

and desires, and near these handkerchiefs

drenched in your scent.

                             You woke in the dawn

                             at three exactly, drowsing,

                             still dazed…

Beneath the sounds of your breathing

lurks a worry: where is your mirror?

And this droplet of light

reflecting a passion

that found a name for everything…

 

Under the pillows also, an aroma

alive and ours – and the long list

of names we have bestowed

on this affair. Surely

a goddess lives there too, the one

who knows the names of all things.