One night I had a dream Time ran thin And the lifeline folded clear In on itself like an icesheet. And my mind had yet to age Or grow And looked back on the glacier valley All in one place. Far, Mute on the horizon, I saw a hill Shudder and roll back And it hurt. I had to remember what it was like To be confused like that. And to shut my eyes And cringe At the star sky being drawn Soft, over the nighttime and over my eyelids. The next morning I could not remember something. The moment I woke up, I remembered And it was morning. Something traced the path The sun made through my window. It moved up and down the beam, slow and silent. On the sill, the water is bright The white flower faint Like a clef in the corner of the page. Like a stranger never spoken to, The silence was complete, and peaceful. Something I didn't understand, I grew weary, Second by second, Side by side Something I did not know. Another night, I stood on the edge of a field, in winter. The night curtain was cold My breath bright. My breath caught Because from one moment to the next The sky was swimming with lights, Silent. They moved from the west to the east, And east to west, and bowed, Sinking past the horizon. Smiling, I smiled back. The spray kissed My heels, and in one awaited easy instant I stood at the mouth of a certain water curtain cave. The moment the sky began to swim The music playing became audible at once. I smiled, I prepared to step forward. Days passed. There would be times when something I could tell was important to someone Would steal across my bedroom. It would hang in the sunlight Like ginkgo Gaigo. Very often, Walking, I came upon a certain thing Stored up in the green distance Or again, Laid up against the concrete. With it, the catch of sound About to become audible. I saw it move beneath the surface. Time and time, I stole again without being caught To the mouth of the cave. With wide and clear eyes, I looked down the aisle through the mist. Paper plates, stone suns, cat toes. In banner days before my feet It fell fleet step into place. It flashed against the days One time. I took it up From the start. I fell upon it Like snow in the night. The air rush, Like snow in the night The light beaded in the understory. The liners drifted carrying something. In and out of sight past my fingers. The afterglow The flash's afterglow Is always here Here again. The rain lashed warm The retina cat stalked in sight. Snow-seals, sand domes, stone suns, umbrellas, paper plates, jellyfish, cat toes, Stabbing the world, Stabbed with itself. The troll's breath whistled through the pine brush The cat's eye flashed wet in the rumble. Dim and gold, the gun flash Now darkening, the white stars now hanging between my hands. Toes falling faint, with feeling, Softer than the pine brush on the snow In and out of sight. In the stars there must have been a cry When I closed my hands around them. And I saw The wrong seal. The dome pressed in against the tower, The suns buried in their caves, The stone choked to corpse-stone. Umbrella struts writhed like insect legs The jellyfish smeared on the forest floor The cat toes burst and bleeding between my fingers And scrawled in the center of the paper plate A hateful thing. My hands flared open, Fingers spread and straining, bent back away from my palms Like they were recoiling away from the grip of a brain-flecked rock in self-parody. Then my fists would close again, nails digging at something, and flare open. Some nights, The fingers began to soften against the stars. A spasm then seemed to twist me, And I shot a glance to where the aisle lay past the curtain. One August, the smell of floorboards Sighing in summer Became very familiar As I stood in the hallway, heels numb. In late hours once, my ear caught the notes of an old song Seeming to fall in flat splashes on the ground. It was at this time that I turned to A certain wood doorframe. I leaned my forehead on its edge, you remember, And shut my eyes. You were standing, I was sitting by your side On a grassy cliff. We looked out at the sun shining deep in the dark And the sunlight in the sea Like a cube of violin rosin glimmering. I kept looking over You were there beside me. Days passed. One time the light lay on the woods like a sword. I thought of you where you were, the grass dim, I see now, Dry and gold around your feet. The darkling sigh Catches on the waving grass. I see the sky Of each remembered sky. They wash up still Upon each other, they deepened unto stars. Wine-deep in the center, always, The sun is bright, and bright, and bright. I never understood, I do not understand Why your blood seems to have no melody. In the glass the sea all roars low, until everything is in the same place In the sky pressed heart to heart to wine-light, until everything is in the same place Running drop by drop over you. Your feet are sliding in the dust, the heels of your palms are dashed and splintered Your palms look like ravaged vinyards, you are reduced to stillness. You are still trembling. The deep sky trembles In peril about your face, reduced drop by drop to stillness. And I cannot hear it. It does not play. I stole again and stole again to gain the purpose To remember the purpose, and have remembered And as you see me, my eyes darken. I am sorry about that. I try to stay around. On a recent afternoon, I was driving in the direction of the shore, The road came rolling up through a small town. There was a little water tower to the left side, and from the right, A flock of birds came over the road, Flexing in shape, hanging with urgency Over the radio notes. I admired your mind I felt, That I liked something about you. Something continues It deepens, darker, softer, brighter, sweeter, One day I will hear. I will one day see.