Night Passages
Death Death has no summit, Is of bottomless depth, As an awesome idea Infiltrated in every breath, Numb of it a leaden wait Into the arms of death I will retire No longer tireless in the pursuit of me Finally captive, relegated, past Who knew, beyond himself, he could not last Death is Magnificent Elephant Weighty afoot Tender of trunk Dazzling ivory Coast of nowhere Meditating on death Neither advances nor delays Dead reckoning, but only Abstracts from living now Which may instruct or obstruct or both, divergent, in one Fear Fear marshals Fear organizes Fear commands Fight or flight Fear disrupts Fear disorganizes Fear flash freezes Fear is the fog Of ultimate Ambiguity Old I’m old Losing my grip Finding new grips On myself That thing Always in flight Feathered with fright Freighted with hope Enough The language Of enough Far flung Foreign tongue Long lonesome sung Is hard to master But willing to help us Avoid disaster (Inscribed In characters Of flesh and blood In ink of think In feeling’s grip) Self Self, a nomad’s tent Pitched in desert of longing, Far from oasis Strict From Stricken How to tell Strict from stricken Can be difficult, Depends on The mercy of the eye, Knowing how to ask, How to attend No Monument Even words perish With no monument of sound Stain of ink or light Of A Star Fecundity Of spring and summer All ablaze in autumn Barren still through winter As closed buds await Alignment with the sun To burst and ravish anew Loyal subjects of a star Pillowed Pillowed on soft breast of seeming, illusion works against saw of truth Pin Oaks Late autumn, remnants Of rust glow in light of dawn Ruddy sun perched south November 29, 2025