“In the daytime also he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a light of fire….”
~ The Psalms 78
Under that flank
I can touch, a ripple
that grows to my fingers
with a bulge like a fig—
Quicken is the way
night turns, rapid
as the valance
of morning. Sh sh
say the birds
in the tree,
purpling sonnets
and psalms for silence—
No need to drink
that poison. No need
to lie down and cry.
Nothing is wasted,
my dearest love;
nothing is lost.
Come out now and eat
the sugar from the offered
hand; bite of apple,
salt of the bridle
leading again to the gate
and the track beyond.