Holding Out

for Janet, John and James

love swings in each moment
and clocks our careless hearts

if love is faith
in the tempo
then I am in love
most of the time

to speak
I steal a cry

my theft

the first green runts
outside this house
on the apple

the tree between neighbours

and the window is open

and I am intentional
my friends about to marry

*

love swings in each moment
and socks our dauntless hearts

if love is a rounder
to the temple
then I am in love
most of the time

to say this
I feel your sigh

against my chest

we are contrapuntal

and out the window
a playing field cheer
my sudden chorus

and each of us

claps in time
some time

and when we do
and rhythm rules

we smile

*

love chimes in each moment
and revives our lumbering hearts

if love is wind
ringing in the ears
then I am in love
most of the time

to say this
I walk to the dreamy cliff

our friends about to marry

and I am like you

in the throes of declaration

trying to recognize
my solace

my role in this celestial match

and stars flare

in our hands

our desire
to celebrate

the way we do

the things
we do

*
there is a beginning to this

and the heart falls

or fails

it makes me humble

all the beginning

again and again

saying this or anything
here or above the crashing sea

this or anything
being love
not in speech
until now

standing steady for any scrutiny
at any time

until the end

and the heart falls

*

I fall weary
as fire leaps from the water

I become intent
during the bewitching glance
or the magic step in dance

I sip whiskey and recall

the way hoodlums

steal my heart

I am anything

and I can tell

the way I do the things
I do

*

love sings in each moment
and cradles our newborn hearts

if love is lyrical intoxication
then I am in love
most of the time

to say this
I reel and swirl

for you my friends

so that I might sway

the graces of night

and the spirits of sun

to protect your love
and keep your household
enduring and strong

and to grant me another day
so that I might see again

on the tree between neighbours
apples ripening

and sing with you
the love yet unsung

August 9 1996