REFLECTING POOL or THROUGH AND THROUGH
I begin to wonder about the unseen waves
The ripples in the temporal pool
That mean at first and then forget to mean
Or choose at last to lie or play the fool
I know at least that names are these
They let on to know how little they contain
Yet follow every unwritten rule
They must know something to be writ so plain
I�d carve a year into the words
And find no shadow but my own
A little further on I mean
I would have found the last pursuant lost
I rose from bed and found the thimble here
Ossified between the pages of a book
I looked to find my own name there
But found only shells of what I sook
I learned the Tantalus could be swallowed whole
That shadows live more in the purpose than the memory of things
That garments for the shadow fit the man
And the mirror is where the mask began
Or else I move to stopper up the gulf
Between the mother�s hand and Lover�s Mouth
If I look too deep
The surface gives to surfaces of sleep
The looking-glass no longer holds my image
It holds the visage of metallic fear!
I looked long and hard into the surfaces of things
�All is surface,� that was my reasoning
And all I found was trepidation for my care
To think of what is hidden in despair!
5/15/05
Poetry 2006
==============Return to Poetry Main=================