Though lovers be lost love shall not
                                                      - Dylan Thomas, And Death Shall Have No Dominion
 
 

He who dreams of drinking wine may weep when morning comes.  He who dreams of weeping may be off to the hunt in the morning.  During his dream he does not know that he is dreaming.  It is only when he is wakened up that he knows that it was a dream.  Someday there will be a great awakening.  Then we shall know that this life is a great dream.
                                                                                                                                                       - Chuang-Tzu
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday morning bells -
come,
live in this world
 
 
 
 

Dune grasses in clusters
of six or seven -
my shadow passes among them
 
 
 
 

Walking for miles in Provincetown
under my borrowed umbrella -
No end to September rains
 
 
 
 

No road but the one
           I'm on,
taking time for spring violets
 
 
 
 

Heart, if you must have a stop
then stop now -
Do not go on tormenting me
with sleepless nights
and this endless longing
 
 
 
 

The mysteries deepen, and you turn your head
The next moment, it's the wrong key
You call out your lover's name, thinking,
There's something of a locksmith in him too
All the locks tumble as you fall through each other
like rain through the ocean floor
 
 
 
 

The flower of the hibiscus lasts
but two days and a night -
How suddenly our love
came and went
 
 
 
 

Vultures pick at the seal carcass -
no one's home
 
 
 
 

Alamo Square -
tree, open your eyes
and feast on my beauty
 
 
 
 

to R.

Wear this amulet around your wrist
where you cut yourself
Only magic can soothe love's wounds
 
 
 
 

Dandelion, take heart:
though you're not the summer rose
you're mine
 
 
 
 

I press the fragrance in your shirt
to my face one more time
You've gone away
without so much as goodbye
My body still burns
 
 
 
 

Myself of long ago -
How does he get along
these days, I wonder?
 
 
 
 

Your hands and feet
directed by the mind
take you down the path -
But what is it
guides the mind
down its path?
 
 
 
 

The snows of spring melt
high in the mountains
and join in rivulets to the sea
Thus does my longing gather its strength
 
 
 
 

They listen, and their heads nod: morning sunflowers
 
 
 
 

Afternoon geraniums -
this life too
must fade
 
 
 
 

Summer evening walk -
wind though the fir trees,
children's voices
 
 
 
 

Summer fields of my youth
at Sunnycrest Park -
Are they still so green?
 
 
 
 

The moon slips from behind a passing cloud -
that lovely dream I'd forgotten
comes back to me in a flash
 
 
 
 

It's true you don't want
anything more to do with me -
Still, I take my pleasure
walking past your window
every night on Haight Street
 
 
 
 

It's useless to try to keep track
of lies and truths -
Who goes on counting the days
until the next kiss?
 
 
 
 

The mite caught between the old book's
                    pages -
I've come across him again
 
 
 
 

Moon reflected in clear water,
moon reflected in cloudy water -
They both follow the same path
through the sky
 
 
 
 

Waking, then sleeping, and waking again,
         these dreams of mine tossed
upon the pillow's shore
 
 

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