Sunrise

Sunrise
Sunrise on Sunset Beach

Medley - On the Contemplation of Deep Time

Athens, Georgia
May 27, 2012

A medley of poems in ten sections. A listing with links is given below.



1.
When morning chill subsides
       soft air will vibrate
              as waves of cicada
       in rhythmic insistence
suffuse the summer woodland
       with a languid ebb and flow
              that floats the soul
       outside of time


2. 
where unmoved mover
meditates
and quantum foam collapses states
a force field quivers
random jitters
juxtapose, cohere in song
a lullaby
        arise
arise


3.
From the mists of Paradise
              from holy grounds, untended
       the tree of life still grows
       the sacred stream still flows
                     from Eden’s shores, unbidden
       to water the gardens of Earth –

              Where silent steam pillars rise
       from roiling fury
                     shearing sky
                     with sulfur mist
       over black pumice plains.

                Where life clings
tenaciously, as sharp rock yields
       to scattered patches of wind-whipped grass
                     in soft tans
              like newborn down on desiccated skin
       and stunted succulents dare to flower
                     golden yellow and rosy pink
                                   defiance.

Where unleashed energies overwhelm
                     the meek
       with brusque indifference. But here
              a living spark, hidden
                     in the hot rocky heart
              lies latent, awaiting Word
                            to emerge and inherit
                     a new Age its own.
  

4.
Then rise the ghosts of Carboniferous swamps
to cast their ancient spells, I hear their call:
Arise, reclaim Gondwana’s store
return us to Pangean shores
release your old reptilian core
to bask the vast unending light
through countless days of mindless sigh
hold close your closed ancestral ways
cling tight to pride and precious life
and dwell here past eternity
it’s long before the Fall.


5.
 In sunny clearings
suffused with sweetness
sour passionfruit, fallen
offers rich red pulp
       shamelessly to all
who would partake
in its cycle.


6.
              Afternoon envelops stillness
as the river valley glows
       a shimmering green vision
                     that surrounds a solitary
              heron
inhabiting a heaven
       of sparkling brown mud
                     and slow rich waters
              that mingle in quiet eternity.

The heron unfolds
       into neck and wing
                     flashing slow blue-silver rhythm
              in ponderous flight.
Its harsh cry highlights 
       primordial grace 
                     disappearing into downstream shadow
              as eternity dissolves
                     and light breezes hint
                            soft darkness to come.
  

7.
Amidst the shifting entropy
new riffs arise in life’s old song
with notes of animated dust
evolving in the space that’s formed
from light blue sky of summer morn
and dark brown smells of woodland floor,
from child’s first laugh to granite stone
where chaos breaks and soul takes form
to stalk the fleeting, ferret meaning,
fiercely singing to the night.
And thus the sentient dust at play,
       its fate, our joy, this borderland


8.
        Where I once wandered
fall paths through pungent hush
of hickory, beech and white oak stands
to forest edge at right-of-way, cut
straight across the curve of hills,
and there stood blinking back the light

       By the sun-splashed shores
       of an old field grown wild
       breaking over asphalt slabs
       which once went somewhere
       beyond the post hole fence
       that vainly holds back green
       swells of sumac and thistle
       tangled in turbulence
       sparkling in the silent roar
              of  a thin place
                     opening
              onto an emerald sea
       in the presence of which
       I would remove my shoes
       wash my soul in sunlight
       and float the timeless warmth
              to a new heaven
                     and a new earth

But here beneath the freshening breeze
a mute rebuke was meant for me:
       You hear your heart
           not that of mine.


9.
From the fertile plain at Pukalini
       you ascend the flank of Haleakula
              through tall stands of shady koa
                     to white pine and pasture
                            scrub bush and boulder
                                   silversword and cinder
                                          sky, wind
                                             
                                                                       Realm
                                                                 of fierce light
                                                              piercing shadow
                                                              and stark clarity             

                                                        Stern words fell gently:

                                                       You were given a garden  
                                                   and precious days, numbered.
                                                     You do not belong here, but
                                                      linger, and count the colors
                                                      of gold in the sunset below,
                                               then descend in darkness and fear
                                                      and while there is yet time,
                                                      find your own fertile plain
                                                         to cultivate and sustain
                                                                 for all your days
                                                        in humility and gratitude.


10.
        By the roaring frothy sea
              fissured lava fields lie
       frozen in flow
              over perilous sea cliffs
       where waves batter stone
              into fine black sand
       on which wondrous creatures
              not yet evolved
       may one day bask mindlessly
              by tranquil shores,
       or play with thoughts beyond my grasp
              and meditate, with me
       in the immensity of deep time.



Stanzas are taken from the following poems:

1.     Summer Cicadas (1)
3.     Kiluea to Sea (1, 3, 5, 6)
4.     Awaiting Passage (1)
6.     Heron World (2, 5)
8.     An Old Field Opened Up (2, 3, 4)
9.     Haleakula
10.  Kiluea to Sea (7)

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