Anthem

  

and yet, there is only

one great thing

the only thing:

to live to see in huts and on journeys

the great day that dawns

and the light that fills

the world

--inuit poem

all these words you use to describe

everyday things: snow and rain, wind

and kicked-up dust in the parking lot

where you met at the movie theater, the taste

of a heady cocktail in the early afternoon.

40 words for everything, maybe more;

every day a journey, relentless light

filling the world and drawing you

onward down that edgeless road you’ve

always known to follow.

each morning brings fresh dreams, spilling

over from the night oceans where you’ve swum

with your lovers, deep in the soul of everything

where words melt into gestures, meanings, breath and touch.

you rise from there, streaked with stars and

ready for the journey

ready to learn the words again.

one day it will be too much.  you will have

seen it all, learned all you want to know, taught

what you came to teach.  you will have loved—oh

you will have loved beyond yourself

poured your heart out onto stones, wrung it dry

and then poured out more.

there are more words for love than can be counted

and you will never stop learning this.

but one day the light that fills the world

will take you into itself.

do you see? so many times already, you

were almost gone

and something held you here, a word, a gesture

an unbroken silver thread.

but on that day there will finally be no words,

only the soul of everything

only the light filling the world

only the great day dawning, and you

yes you

your edges dissolving, borderless

dawning with it.

©KB

4/29/12