I make
charcoal streaks on canvas sky
 and painted birds 
 that flap their wings 
 and dry.
Sallow sun, 
 moist to touch like dew,
 smeared above a lake works fine.
 Mixed with intent, so loving,
 I swirl, dab and  paint
 dull and brilliant
 a world with dye.
 Each precious brush stroke,
 stroking, tunes in clearer
 ever finer
    …the gift.
 For nobody would know it,
 (as it's realized)
 this slice of landscape scene,
 pictured in our mind,
 contains the whole
 land, sea, and sky,
 revealing like a ship 
 sailing toward the edge, at
night.
 And then I summon ecstatic swans, 
 mingling,
 over mirror lake of frozen glass
 to set them free forever.  |