Blues for Shannon

back there

a bee

draws

zebra stripes

on the black willow

tree

and I

want the telephone to ring

pick up

magic

never to answer before
and never to answer again

your voice breaks over the wire

and I bless the electrical and mechanical world

*

I do wrong

more than I do right

and you do not help me

dancing there

on the other side of the night

*

I need to tell you

I understand
that time travels
and I stay

like the first pounding of your heart
on my chest

now deep in the forest

lost to me
the place you take me
that I cannot find again

*

I am sorry

I am a fool

happy for the magic
I receive

despairing for what I no longer remember

the first spark
in the arc of my walk toward you

all that I cherish
glistening
in the darkness of you

that I can no longer explore