On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront

Looking out
in near winter
the shelter
of bare trees is
                                       nothing

And she against the barren sky
purges it with light
and goes lakebound
into the stillness of water
                                       laughing

Out of the last
hungry moment
there is snatched
one more
                                       recollection

of boundary
of territory
so vast
I can't and won't
                                       explain

I say to her

Be the awakening of long sleep
         dreaming past the argument
                   of hope

Be the singing of new psalms
         caught in the timbre
                   of holy wind and fire

Be the beating of pain
         into the heart into the lungs
                   into the finite plague of tomorrow

Become the tracing of my hand
         in the final moment
                   of our parting