There is a marsh


There is a marsh
next to the river,
and between the river
and the road, a field

The river is a road
for the bats, at eventide
for the heron, come mornings
for the butterflies, every long hot afternoon

In the dirt road
next to my house
there was a turtle
nearly as flat as a plate,

and as large; but oval
When I returned
from my bath, she was gone
in the quick way of tortoises

Rain falls
river rises
meets the bridge I made
and pauses

On the beach
next to the river
a meadow is in the process
of making itself

There is the sound of a
new bird in the field
Today I saw him: blue bird --
an indigo bunting

Glorious in his blue
victorious in his blueness
alive in his bluedness
His blue essence that

she will smile on
Never was anything
more blue.
or ever will be

Nor I, never so aware
as today: I need this,
all, more than it
needs me. In fact, it needs me

Not at all.




jjl
7/7/08