The Dazzle Arcs

The Dazzle Arcs

(“O Lord, your mercy reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.” Psalm 36:5)

Watch where you walk; the dusty alley, the gravel lane,
look where you discovered love and discover it again.
The language you spoke, the hands that held the perfect stew
simmered and watched, stirred and tended for just the right moment
when you walked in from the cold.

Watch where the sky; the dusky prospect, the dazzle arcs,
look where you detected help and detect it again.
The music you saw, the hands that played the perfect mood
love songs and hymns, faith and ballades for just the right moment
when your heart had become cold.

Hear the swirl, watch to world in its tiniest mood (the green of ever,
the dogs of the sun, a moon drawing the curtains back, the clouds barely resisting),
Walk where you listened, hear what you saw after midnight on the
luminescent horizon. It was an inferno on the freezing cold,
it was a prism escaped from the rainbow, it was magma flow on the heights.

It would have been a whistle like wind that sneaks through canyons,
It would have been electronika disconnected, dance shoes unaffected
by loose laces. It was a banjo and guitar, mandolin and double bass,
an improvisation in space over our heads. We were asked to memorize
every word.

We watched the fire of love, we heard the sizzle of songs
and should have marked the spot for future generations. We knew the
words though the lyrics escaped.

I used to discover entire cities beneath the rocks which had remained
unmoved all winter until late spring.