.
In dreams we're adrift in a life
Before or beyond the present life.
In time a shadow falls over this
Earthly paradise. Was it false?
Alas. Tribulation.
And we are here. There
In the southern Garden of Eden
What were we waiting for, in that forest?
Alas. Tribulation.
And we are here. There
In the southern Garden of Eden
What were we waiting for, in that forest?
The earth circling, rising and falling,
The air revolving around it; a fern waving;
A jaguar who is the night sun
Circling; seeds drifting on air; a woman
In the guise of the rain goddess
Singing the psalm Delectasti,
And this motion causing the forest,
Because it is dense, to resound.
The air revolving around it; a fern waving;
A jaguar who is the night sun
Circling; seeds drifting on air; a woman
In the guise of the rain goddess
Singing the psalm Delectasti,
And this motion causing the forest,
Because it is dense, to resound.
This is more than we were promised.
Density of life. Invisible currents.
Birds singing from liquid patios of leaves
Into the glistening and tenuous air
Between evening and the absence of evening
There among the teeming shadow-temples.
Growths taking root. Here.
And the shadow falls over them.
Forest in the Waikatere Ranges, North Island, New Zealand: photo by James Shook, 2005
Jaguar (Panthera onca), Belize: photo by Gary M. Stolz, 2008 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
Ferns in rainforest, Dominica, West Indies: photo by Hans Hillewaert, 2006
Jaguar (Panthera onca), Belize: photo by Gary M. Stolz, 2008 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
Ferns in rainforest, Dominica, West Indies: photo by Hans Hillewaert, 2006
Tropical rainforest, Fatu Hiva Island, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia: photo by Makemake, 2005
6 comments:
"A jaguar who is the night sun"
the chuff hnnnh chuff of the hungry cat
at dusk the prey looks for cover
but I
exult!
great poem tom....goes to the top of my leaderboard.
Thank you Zev.
I like yours as well.
(By the way, there lurks behind this post, among other things, the twenty-eighth canto of the Purgatorio of Dante.)
Tom,
Just finding this, great 'connections' to what follows ("Starlight and Shadows"). We were reading Stevens last night, things here sounding of things there -- "Earthly paradise," "we are here," "this motion causing the forest,/ Because it is dense, to resound," Birds singing from liquid patios of leaves/ Into the tenuous and glistening air" (wow!) -- beautiful.
Such expansive images live through this, and movement to follow. Wonderful!
Thank you Steve and Leigh.
Yes, here I did wish to emerge at least briefly from the shadows into the color and light of image (imagination)
It felt like free lunch or home free... at least until that shadow (which seems to have been deputed as the cop on this beat) fell over it.
Thank you for writing this one and clearing up the shadows.
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