The Magnitude
The magnitude is impossible to deduce from this side of the sky From the other side of the sky everything’s possible A man wit…
I hear nearby
firing squad bullets
meant for me
I am elsewhere
All my deeds in a little box
in my heart
There are trees in full leaf
and meadows in full bloom
Nothing ripples like a horse’s back
bounding through the air
I soar over oceans
to get nearer to sky
the waves below
don’t even see me go
Though the bullets get nearer
I’m their superior
My metal harder than theirs
my swift spirit swifter in dispersal
I’m already air
Only God is near
nearer and nearer
They whistle as they work
coming toward me
But my whistle is higher
and clearer
Whole cities have risen and
fallen into ruin
and not a moment has passed
whole populations disappeared
and appeared again
all different faces
and all the same spirit
Nothing really disappears
once it is
I think they’re about to
reach their mark
but I’m not here
dyed in
God’s color
5/29/12 (morning of first Chemo & radiation therapies) (from Down at the Deep End)
Categories: Poems, Cancer Treatment