Easter Morning from Four Floors Up
A day when the earth opens,
warmth tilting it, shaking it a little.
Shaking the first bout of seeds
from elder, bramble, bolted greens
that crowd the waste ground
and grow in the shelter of half-fallen buildings.
Only a little wind, but it lifts them,
an armada of seeds with the softness of feathers
but so without outline, contour, spine,
they could be a quality of air, air thickened,
as water is by a few drops of milk,
stirred into purpose, as the angel stirred the water
of the pool at the Gate Beautiful
so the sick could be healed.
But only at the time of stirring.
The seeds lift, lift, lift themselves in ranks,
finding their way through the air,
a mattress that is only feathers,
held together by its own softness,
approaching the tops of the willows,
kissing them,
a feather mattress, a mirror reflecting the light,
a leaping grove of glowing antlers,
pure purpose, drunken,
finding their way to their own bed.
warmth tilting it, shaking it a little.
Shaking the first bout of seeds
from elder, bramble, bolted greens
that crowd the waste ground
and grow in the shelter of half-fallen buildings.
Only a little wind, but it lifts them,
an armada of seeds with the softness of feathers
but so without outline, contour, spine,
they could be a quality of air, air thickened,
as water is by a few drops of milk,
stirred into purpose, as the angel stirred the water
of the pool at the Gate Beautiful
so the sick could be healed.
But only at the time of stirring.
The seeds lift, lift, lift themselves in ranks,
finding their way through the air,
a mattress that is only feathers,
held together by its own softness,
approaching the tops of the willows,
kissing them,
a feather mattress, a mirror reflecting the light,
a leaping grove of glowing antlers,
pure purpose, drunken,
finding their way to their own bed.
Page(s) 10
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