dawn
darkness
dark lines

morning seeping over the black jagged cutout horizon
the air like porcelain faintly tinted glistening slowly above

where am I?
this vapor
this mountain

thin gossamer fence
crisp stark stretches
endless

islands of personal history

I have been here before

moments tender now, yellowed even, I suppose

…and this
striding beside the canal
quiet canvas, leather
collars up mysterious light
hats down supplications

leaves fall slower since then, I seem to remember

…and distances between us
marked heel to toe

eyes like ambient night

…and water glowing the muted richness of the sky
glass ribbons around us
dry grass
a vast soul
beauty

silence like leaves

…and walking together
we have before us the lake with mirrored silhouettes
flying above the ground of memory
gently arrayed in undulating chevrons
tumbling from cold steel heavens…

and these archipelagos I seek the finer things
gleam like the cartridges in our pockets I describe eternity
a jumbled assortment I reach for the stars
from the air of remembering I dig the earth
a thin strand of vapor I hold you
a burning mountain I let you go

this dawn
this darkness
these dark lines

a sky of birds
falling to the ground

(November 1999)