Afloat upon an ownerless sea
No man can own the waves
That slips gleefully between their fingers
I think how many tongues there might be
In pother places, rant and rave
But here , it is only the peace that lingers
How easily the rift was born
as men choose common sides
when God scattered them at a place called Babel
Today, the difference we may scorn
If we disregard our foolish pride
And over come the gap formed by such a fable.
Tai Shan, mountain home
Boundary of heaven and earth
AH, Most auspicious
Thoughts of Approaching Fall 2005
The evening lies heavily upon me
Uneasy hot breath
Drawn underneath this suffocating blanket of late summer
Occasional cool winds blow
Unexpected
I close my eyes dreaming of our cool sheets
Long fingers shadow the field
Boys dash here and there
Hair pasted to their brow in a glow of summer sweat
Their parents tread, gossip[
Wiping away traces
of the paths of lone beads of sweat before they fall\
Their children, young
Dance in worship
Laugh, roll on grassy slopes celebrating the season
WE pay homage top passing seasons
Pagan rituals
Replaced by pursuits of school clothing and long pants for short.
Cheer the team, sharpen the pencil
Gathering ourselves
In protective clans in answer to unconscious instinct
All electric homes, our lodge
Schools, churches, stadiums
We assemble, tell stories, guild against approaching cold and dark
Still cool sheets clothe us now
Overhead, this fan
Beats an eternal circle, matching the rhythm of our pulses
Autumn and cool spring are preserved here
The crowd , the sound nor electric light
Steels us tonight
Against the creep of shadows as does the touch of your hgand
We exist always
Never leaving this plane
Recycled substance
Reused over again
Not created, destroyed
Composed of Star matter
In some other time
Assembled, scattered
How many beings
Their atoms inside me?
Once lived on this plane
As human, dog or tree?
Like jigsaw puzzles
Assembled ancient parts
Each new assembly
Brings new chances, new starts
Tonight we are traveling in time
Skipping across time zones like a flat rock across the surface of a pool
First one hour disappeared in our climb
Then a second , soaring from east to west as a rule
Am I then younger?
By an hour or two ?
More life to live? By
What shall I do?
My old location is now older by two
As we, having soared more quickly than handrs on. The clock
And those around us haven't a clue
That we traveled in time as easily as that skipping rock.
Wine
Thank you for the wine
Ah, a chilled white
Yes, I know
It's cold outside tonight
But this glass of wine
Is more than this glass
It's what it brings to mind
While cold winds chill us all
I am sipping a red
On the Adriatic Sea
And it goes straight to my head
While the temp drops outside
I am In an Italian vineyard
Swirling my glass of white
And quoting lines of the Bard
The cold drives us inside
But from the bottle I drink
On a Chinese mount I sit
Dangling my legs over the Brink
Thank you for the wine
This. Glass of white
Is more than the glass
It is what it brings to mind
