for Sharon Olds*

No one
in our time -
except perhaps
Leonard Cohen -
has written
so exquisitely
of Love, Lust
and Loss.

It is as if
you have
commandeered
God's voice.

What must
it be like
to know
the Human
so well?

Sweet Poetess
of illuminated
darkness;

your words
fall like stars
into the
dusky world
and brighten
each obscure
corner.

Such a gift
to be given;
such a gift
to give.

  ~mce