Morning air: thick weave
of song – tiny frogs pulse news
of earth’s beginnings
____________________
Morning air: thick weave
of song – tiny frogs pulse news
of earth’s beginnings
____________________
Moon slides down the sky
as if drunk against the wall
knees giving way
blink and she has slipped
below the wires
one by one
the treetops
the rooftops
this is the speed
of our spinning earth
__________
Billions of snowflakes
rush to earth, giddy to start
life in this new world.
__________
Feb 24, 2010
To the Muses, with love, 2005
“And I would never scold the onion
for causing tears.”* The onion does
what it does. We each must live this way.
The small tears you have caused me
the days of laughter
they are of my own making
yet they are yours; you must love the way
you live your life. You must love your own
rich juices, your protective skin, the layers
of your heart revealing
chamber after secret chamber,
the floating centre. You must love
the way your roots have nourished you
and clung to dirt to keep you honest.
Remember your beginnings.
Do not ask me to believe
you are anyone but yourself.
*Naomi Shihab Nye, “The Travelling Onion”, from Yellow Glove, 1986.