Our Orbits

Our Orbits

(“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable.” Psalm 145:3)

I wish I knew the why back to the way
I had pointed. Green trees lined the highway
closer to the best work I have ever done: two grown sons
a daughter still at home,
we nearly took the road where our orbits were around
the same star.

I wish I knew the where behind
the lies and intrigue that turned the journey around
and now
twice as far as the travel guide advised;
nearer the ocean but further from my heart.

If it were not by deception I would have taken the occasion
to fly higher, above the ball lightning and surface radar that
pulled my strings behind my back. (Too many still wonder why
I am not over it yet and, as a matter of fact, no one else read the news
that I know.) The puppet master never guessed I found the knotted string
plaited around my wrists.

The courts speak plainly, the courts read the charges,
the courts are mainly for truth and not back-room purges;
the courts of earth are fairer than the kingdom of God in
the meaty hands of man; though no one would admit
before a mirror or jury that it is so.

I wish I knew the ways above the closed system we have invented;
I wish I heard the songs of stars in rhythm with my heart’s distended vision.
I wish every fence was down, miles condensed, sounds made loud that
whispered from high and leather chairs. I wish the stairs were less steep
and the phone would ring with one honest “truly yours”; one line on
a postcard from official executive authority: “we did not know what
we were doing.”

I wish I saw the streams of light that transfer joy from heaven
to heart
to voice
to song
that sees the wrong without confusion
and with Spring’s breeze and effervescent fingers of cloudless sky
still does not grant the why, but hears the where without sorrow.