These Hazy Days

Birds' Ascent

Oh, Egret! Is that you, my dear?

Oh, I've been waiting so long,
So long, and you have come at last--
A deity of white, of fronds of
Feathers, skin smooth as loneliness,

Eyes soft as the sensation of travel--
Reflecting something deep and quaking--
Gardens along pastoral lanes
Earth stained upon ancient hands

Of dancers on a darkened stage
Strings loose and marionettes
Shifting as the orchestra swells--
And hushes--oh, Egret, is

That really you?
Your hair smells of sweet peas
Of a summer I've forgotten--
Your gaze is gentle as a

Foam-cuffed tide, and I want
To hold you to my chest
So dear, so long, until the
Moon rises and night embraces

The magnificent day, plunging
Us, spinning, into whitened lands--
A balcony, a bouquet of poppies,
A song of discordant violins

And stars wide in the sky.
At last the morning comes,
Egret, and we have sleepers'
Eyes--dusky, of wood, pins and cork

Tired but not yet forgotten
Only briefly in the dust, your
Feathers plumed with fallen things;
So we open the curtain with

Hesitant hands, until a sliver shines
Through--and once again there's
That swell of the orchestra, and
Egret you've opened the window

Your feet are on the ledge
You shout that you're flying,
Nearly flying, into that grand
Foreign sky--and you take me

In your clasp and we leap
Together--ecstasy, ecstasy,
Exhilaration of wind on our skin
Past the black streets of turmoil

Past the crying reaching trees,
Past the wild enraged ocean--
Into the place where the moon
Lives when it has not overtaken

The day--the edge of tangibility,
Shadows slink low and drift
High, impossibly so, oh Egret,
Is this where you came from?

Is this where I let you go?