Marvel at this enticing beauty
The best ornithological
Drawings of '97
Laid out across a coffee table
The wood has been knocked
So many times over that
It cannot be looked at anymore
So it sits defiant
Remembering the time when
I feared you, lover
Who could not be held down
By my grasping hands
You had this way of flying
Above those base things
Ill conceived as breath
And intemperate fire
So unsullied by the tattoo
Of green bodies who had fear
And only knew to move
Along the grain of the world
Those were the days before
Each dent and scratch, carefully
Covered for your pleasure
By many slim volumes
Splendid ravishing lookbooks and
Silk prints of women
A vacuous immortality...
Cannot help but cling to your steps
You make your way back
To this place again and again
Some samsara we have
Where the path is over-trodden