July 9

There is a stillness at the heart of all things.

You have sensed it in the interstice of moments alone

and in the ebb tide of quiet lovers’ talk.

You have felt its cool touch in the laughter of your children,

or when the Sun’s repose has quenched

the sky’s colonnades of fire.

Patience and tranquility attend it;

passed translucent souls serve as fervent

acolytes in this alabaster temple of the mind.

Yet you have striven all your life for

the dirty playthings of this world.

Your felt your blood rise and brutal rage,

an uninvited guest, visit your heart

and all because–but you have forgotten the cause.

You allowed hate and jealousy to put their plump hands in yours.

Judas, Mammon and Mara smiled at the ease with which

you were led astray.

But now, at the end, the moneylenders have fled;

the boulevards of trade and avarice stand empty.

There is no one left to blame, or to judge.

Clutch your feverish brow–murmur vows of repentance–

shriek frenzied imprecations at Creation:

it will not alter the solemn light

shimmering on the leaves one iota.

The tender universe shines on in grace and quietude

as you slowly kneel down, at long last a true disciple.

 

December 4

You, to whom pain happens;

trembling heir to the thousandfold fear;

mote, illuminated by no sun–

the Creator could not restore

you to wholeness.

August rage hums, a tremendous hive.

Every single point in the universe

has its knife out for you.

Splayed like an insect

across a filthy windshield,

you hurtle on, you hurtle on.

*

*

Painting by R. Waiksnis

November 15

All afternoon we screamed

repentance at the gunmetal sky

while far above a pale tribunal

was grimly trooping by.

August 4: at the river

I yelled at those boys,
those basically good boys.
Hauled their graceful brown bodies,
stunned and shuddering
like harpooned fish,
from their safe Tom Sawyer cove.

I heard my voice boom
across the water,
felt my blood rise,
and a million years
of male rage
shriek skyward
and explode soundlessly
into the innocent blue.