Index

new year carol

and the waters singing shall wet the stage
on which we tread
on which we lately tread
there on storied pebbles fresh immersed

 washed on riverbed
washed clean on riverbed

 reflecting slippery time whose yellowed age
when done and said
when all done and said
makes its exit finally offstage
 
no curtain call
no scene change
no props to rearrange
no sounds at all
 
save rippled water coruscating over shallow stones
and new laid bones burbling their sweetest tones
to gently soothe our hapless quicklimed yearning
 
its flowing thread
intently binds our weak and helpless rage
now stranded dry – such parched and brittle learning
entirely unrehearsed 
 
its calm and flowing thread
intently weaves a new and endless age
entirely sans script unrehearsed
 
when we are dead
 
we all are singing unversed
songs of pebble-washed time
which will become immersed
one unsuspecting day
in lime
or clay
over which will run the ever running stream
smoothing out the pain
smoothing forever the awful pain
 
singing softly of a pebbled dream 
 
our new year carol strains the air
in sad lament
as the melody of one so fair
is spent
 
 
19.i.10