you can only
imagine my kiss,

i am a mirage,
the glossy night
blown into
stars,

i am a phantasm
in the autumn frost,

layered like
the night’s soft
cloud,
a stream of
golden leaves
crisp in the quiet
air,

i drown in the
water of the stars

i faint, a ghostly
apparition
you can
hardly
sense in
the dream-like
surrender of
our love,
arousing our
limbs,
kisses like
the flowers of time.

Lady Hill wears a dress woven of lichen and grasses
Waving glad with limbs of wind-blown trees to each who passes,
Grandfather Valley returns your greeting with echoed call
While with ancient sloping arms he reaches, embracing all,
Your brother, the rolling Plain, his hair wet with morning dew
Reclines amidst the rabbit-holes, promising something new,
Friend River surges laughing at tadpoles, their comic style
One of countless wild jokes which live, breathe, and dance without guile,
Tribes of toads together take up the chant they all know well
While fam’lies of crickets sing of secrets they have to tell,
And Old Mountain’s granite grimace becomes a sort of smile
As the clouds that crown him blush, bright King Sol setting meanwhile,
When all these wonders you are promised, and even more shown,
How canst thou, O weary traveler, ever feel alone?

Have you heard the black 'n tans -
howling by the December moonlight
Have you shot mistletoe down -
from high atop an oak tree
Gathered pecans on a frosty -
morning , toted well water -
in the heat of summer , led cattle
to their winter quarters
Have you picked blackberries and wild plums -
all day from the side of a gravel road
Have you ambled long distances through -
piedmont forest to get to a little country store
Did you ever seine minnows an hunt crayfish
in the springtime
Have you tasted concord grapes fresh off the vine* ..

The immense joy
That flaunted with celebrations
That attracted others
The homeless wishing for such
Is not the beauty I wait for

The multi-faced world
Of multi-minded people
Pouring champagne after war
Will always be the same
Except for the dead

So now
Here alone, waiting
For some miracle to appear
Finally paid off
With scattered hopes for mankind

They still **** each other
my friend
Love,
your human friend