Tossed in the river again, like a fish
injured but alive— back into the cool
currents that soothe the places exited
by barbs. There’s that story of the man
who’s always trudging uphill with his rock,
& the women condemned to gather water using
only sieves. In the thickening canopy of summer,
soon, the drone of cicadas waking from a sleep
of 17 years, after which they mate & die.
So too the towering agave that took all of 80 years
to start giving up its thousand yellow buds: right
after the flowering, its quick decline, its dying.
What theme is common to them all? Already we
live in eternity, caught in the loops of time.
[LAG-other-response url=”https://www.vianegativa.us/2018/06/remembrance-of-things-past/” title=”Via Negativa: Remembrance of things past”]