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1252

She met him as one might

A stranger meet through time

By continents parted

In the same room, propinquity

To ease inversely proportioned.

By itself devoured

The future is no sustenance;

Twixt now and next

And thought and act

Is where we reside,

And our pasts little weigh,

Would we know it,

Or she, or him.

1251

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1249

In the subduing dark
The petals are ghosts of another hour--
Sunlight silk within
Casting shadows of day
In the larger depth.
Solicitude is the hue
Of these things at night
Pink flowers turning blue
In this sad companion's sight.

.
In the subsuming dark
The cherry is a ghost without,
To sensual brief
A suited partner.

1248

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1243

1242
Gilgamesh
Don't ride the bike today
Don't ride for Death
He has shaped this thing
To his purpose.
And Gilgamesh opened his mouth
To his thought gave form
I have no purpose
No purpose but to live
To ride is my purpose.

[in memory of John Gardner]

1241

1240

1239

1238
It's curious as time the night air
As language across
Lip and brow
Touch then gone--
A place but not a place,
A face made soft by air

In no space of time.

1237

1236

1235
Surrender what is held you secret self--
What weight's identity
Without your small purview?
You atrium bird skyless shot-winged,
Lighter air's beyond the glass,
Though of the self-same stuff.

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