Above the trees
I could reach out
And touch his face,
Hold him
In a warm embrace,
As an old friend
But there’s too much
Between us,
Quarrels unresolved…
Times when I needed
A warm hug
And he was off hunting
In the Elysian bogs
With chaste Diana
And her baying dogs.
But I’m past
Needing him now.
It was foolish to think
I could draw comfort
From the skies
As much as to think
The rain’s tears were like mine
Nothing in this vast world
That’s inhuman
Holds me in thrall,
Save living things—
Birds, animals,
And trees
I can sense kinship with these
But rocks and earth,
Stars and moon
Merely fill me with their gloom
Mineral vowels
And desolate sights
Are only lovely to the eyes
I find no heart beating there
Save empty deserts vast and drear
And I’ve no longing to go there.