Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Like crystal in the deserts of the seas.
                     - Hölderlin

I gazed out at the deserts of the seas.
In the transparent clarity of renewed sight,
In the depth of epiphanic vision - an entity.
You! A glowing, branching form taking shape.
You…an image unfolding in plasmic space.
You! A shimmering, silver network of neurons.

I gazed out at the deserts of the seas.
A voice : a distant call, a following echo, and
In the far fields of the minds eye - an entity.
You! Your fluctuating contours, concentric circles.
You…saying…“What use time?”
You! And I replied, “This is time.”

I gazed out at the deserts of the seas.
A glance : a ray of light, a brilliant halo, and
Like crystal in faceted space - an entity.
You! A column of fire warping matter and flesh.
You…a fluvial, fluid, spectral being.
You! With a vibrating, haunting song.

I gazed out at the deserts of the seas.
A pulse : a wave, a refracted, reflecting shape, and
A body - a raised arm - the palm of your hand.
You! With your seven stars circling above.
You…your music making flowers in the sky.
You! A molten cascade of sound and fire.

I gazed out at the deserts of the seas.
Then the storm came : metallic, grey clouds.
In the depths your aura flickered with a thousand lights.
You! Your glance explodes into splinters of gold.
You... your body streams away in the night of time.
You! Your thoughts coalesce with fearful energy.

I gazed out at the deserts of the seas.
In the transparent clarity of your fate,
In the hopeless deeps of your infinite vision, only
You! With your inexorable stare : hard as frozen stone.
You…your image wavering in the shock waves of pain.
You! Are you now just a memory of a question?