Goldwasser

                                                                       

[In memoriam, Richard L. Bach; 1938-2026]


                                                                                      "a small repetitive task—
          ritual kinship of every living thing."
                                                       ~ Cody-Rose Clevidence


Prairie grass and wildflowers, morels        waiting
to be gathered at the forest's edge—  yours

in this beautiful life where                 all that the mind touches
might be brought to bear             on questions that trouble us

Here is a secret                                            You were not the only one 
who kept back a seed                                        beneath your tongue

There have been times I've wanted       the darkness to admit me
when I could not bear                   the starkness of winter

We are, said Heidegger, the only               creatures aware of their own
mortality                     But now I want to imagine the most exquisite chorus

An aria of onrushing                 Singing into the throat of the abyss
These increments of time              flecks of gold suspended in a bottle

We've poured them into a glass                    Drank until we couldn't tell
what was enfolded                                       which had come to enfold