He Wanted to go on a Long Journey…

He wanted to go on a long journey
so he closed his eyes and started
counting his breaths until he could see

the snowclad onion roofs of Moscow
the glistening fields of Fayyoum Egypt
the stifling downtown city congestion of Hong Kong
and he was happy swatting flies from his food
and stepping on Passionflower thorns on the Island of Maui
he was happy setting off by train across Central Asia
sitting next to a shepherd in a
coat reeking of lanolin
he was happy listening under the stairs to the
Beethoven concert in Baden Baden on period instruments

and then he got up and instead of
shooting himself with the little pearl-handled pistol in his belt
for the third night in a row
he opened the nearest window and a
star chariot leaned close and opened its
side door to let him enter

and following the map of Albertus Magnus
he lit up the corners of his beloved’s love letters with a
fast blue flame that spelled out what his
vocabulary couldn’t express

She awoke to a table set with small triangular toasts on
bone china plates and a little pot of
honey so transparent and golden
it transformed the spoon that ladled it into sheer ruby

and her lips into plump blueberries closing slowly over a
sky road of doves’ flight over fields of
burnished silver

---

7/31/2002 (from Through Rose-Colored Glasses)

Categories: Poems, Love