Heaven's Birds: Lament and Song

I could not say it then.

I cannot say it now.

My heart split in two.

A tree limb weighted by ice. A white

A white quiet and protective. A white

A white dangerously warm.

My hand spiritless in the drifts.

Why do birds continue to sing?

Past white past water

past the last word from your tongue

past the altered rhythm of your speaking

we come

Before darkness before fire

before the simple angel of the young

before the field of lilies and

the birds of fields

we come

You go from me Past the simple angel of the young

You go off with my life past the field of lilies

past the early and the deep

With the perfume odor from your wrists

a pendant around my neck

you go from me before white before water

before the last word from your tongue

to us love came and to our love

did come

There was a man whose coppery voice

anguished and exalted me.

Who left his words hanging in the air -

deadly delirious smoke.

Where is he now? For every gray stone

alive with moss and left

unturned by your kind feet

Heaven's birds sing

Why do birds continue to sing? For every gray stone

alive with moss and left

unturned by your kind feet

Heaven's birds sing