The Laughing Sky

Grifas

III. Unknown North

Tetra Obscura

"I wrote the Book of Diamonds.
I saw the Age of Wisdom repeat itself
in the past.
I saw the stars forgiving us
their blind glory.
I saw tomorrow and tomorrow
was gone."

I'm still afraid of thunder.
The lightning in her eyes calms me
like a cool wave of summer
flooding the senses with insects;
deep amber prisms of light washed through leaves
dropped, scarlet, next to my bed
where the music plays on endlessly;
the bugs are just winding up the chorus.

On and on and on
through the morning, wee sleep
and flower opening like jaws
on a new day.
But here, endless rainbows,
slippers of Time like honey
clinging to the shadows,
heaving in and out as stars pass;
the moon relights the day.

At last, the dream
escaping. With its passing
comes shudders, visions
of mountain folds deep green with life
in valleys where rivers run unknown,
but to a few they are the world.

Alive.

Dead of Life

The chainsaw buzz of insects in
an early morning sun
as thunder laps above in
distant clouds that roll like butter.

I've seen all the moods of this season;
I know every wrinkle of summer's face,
but this,
this is different, begs me
to question how something so known
all along could remain
at a whim quiet and undescribed.

Ripples make squares, not circles.
I sense an imbalance of the pure
light feather stroke of dawn
within.

There is nothing more wrong
than what I create.
Whispered voices may say otherwise,
but what do the dead know of life?
How quickly do they forget?

Snake in Robes

Beautiful butterfly remedies caress my gaze
with thinly wisped waves of fog
turning lights into sprinkles over air--
wet tongues of flesh.

The hour turns dim below
a purple sky and the trees
with their rough bark grow
beyond the mists and humidity
into some space out of mind--
out of sight and reason.

All this walking,
all these dismal reminders,
where do they leave me?
I have forgotten to turn back my shoes
and head for home by the most obvious route.
Now I must circle ever
the foreign soil of this land
until such time as I remember what it is
I am to forget.

Before me appeared a beautiful woman,
tall as the dew, with falling red hair and shimmering
green robes held fast at her waist
by the snake clasping its own tail.

This land of visions and ghosts I find myself in,
whence came I to arrive at such a degree?
I find the loss of words distracting,
but still she wavers not, nor scowls.

The lady turned lightly and drifted away;
the distance I traveled kept the darkness at bay.

The Tower and the Light

All the rivers run here;
from this point doth Time itself begin.
Here only clocks work and seconds
tick the days like soldiers on command.
The thin mist becomes rain
to mingle with the ocean's waves;
said light which lights lights forever.

I have seen this place in dreams:
black stone soft and silent
winding skyward without windows.
The wolves with the white fur led me here,
but someone else beckoned and I did not stay.

"The Absinthe Man calls all who walk forward
with the desire to open their minds.
He is there to help but obstructs,
his drug a mirror of the worlds you find.
But here shines the Light and substance.
Leave your shoes at the door--
they will be fed in time."

Her voice became round face as she emerged
from the shadows, her eyes smiling
like stars on a moonless night.
Above the tower shone upon us;
a sun burning through velvet waves.

"I cannot understand how this light can be.
I believe my eyes, though they cannot see;
I hear no sounds, thus my ears deceive me.
Where is the line I can use to measure this wonder?
What plumb bob or weight can hold its form?"

"There is nothing you can do
to make this wonder any more real than
it already is.
Some things need no explanation.
Some things cannot be given a physical shape
to be described and catalogued at whim.
You have learned this,
but you must learn still:

"Red berries and acorns
whisper more than you know."

The Book of Diamonds

I am the sky that brings the water
and the fish that swim within;
I am the lamb that grew old and died
and the bull that ran with him.

I am two if I am one:
I am the crab in the harvest moon;
I am the lion dressed to kill
and the virgin he made swoon.

I am justice burning bright
and the snake lost in the night.
I am the wolf in the long black shell,
I am the hunter who kills so well

the goat he hunted on the hill.

Ballad of the Drowning Man

My face washed by nine maidens,
my hands swept clean by the air;
all around the trumpets' heralds
tell me they are here.

I have passed unpassable mountains,
driven through valleys of blood;
I have given my life to one person,
done all I perceive of as good.

There is a pleasantness in the sunrise
that leaves me still with baited breath,
yet more I seek in the moon's tides
which bathe me in their health.

I have taken back what's been stolen,
left regret only in its place,
but even through this I feel broken,
so nine maidens wash my face.

IV. The Sound of Sown Diamonds