Wednesday, 9 March 2016

from Blackwater Quartet, selection 70



A Philosophy of Symbolic Forms

Turn back the clock
before time, before God was born….

All stories begin this way, but few make an end.

A desert place, a straggly palm, a dancing girl
down on her luck: none of it is real.
Still, you hear the ankle bells, and feel
the heat’s red weltering glow against your skin.

In this version, the dancing girl’s luck
improved with each re-telling.

In this way, she said, before time,
before God was born, we learn the value of palm shade,
the burden of innocence, and how to bear it.

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