My mother shoos the fox from her grave
she is not ready for the sweeping day
the orioles nest far from this evening
above the red dust if only one would call
a silence the size of a tree
through the root’s center the river will come
just under the bark of time
something slowly moves the other way
the moon smiles thinly
brittle stars laugh — even I
can walk on water
on the mountain road
what looks like snow acts like rain
will I see you soon?
In the sky of dreams we are the clouds
until the density of images coalesces to spirit
And we fall
resolve back to solid waking drop by drop in the dark.
So, no twister ripped reality and separated us.
I did not run through rubble yelling your name.
Worse, I dreamed of the waking in anxiety and
That I lay listening to the rain speaking on the sill’s other side
This meaning without moving to remember it though knowing
What I wouldn’t get back if I didn’t write this poem.
Then when the last drop of waking fell before consciousness
Wiped it away I reached for the scattered thoughts as if for you
Sustained love is love’s
Only achievement: to stay
Beyond memory
*
start this year bare tree
grow quiet inside yourself
choose when to open
Translations from the English 