HEART THREAD 186 & 187

186.

Now there was a man the ferly folk
took away R. Kirk

they brought him to a time between
times and loved him there

left a lookalike back home to do his
job

while he did theirs and the work they
had to do

is all praising and delighting in
them

for they were born before the world
and wonder still

what manner people we are who hardly
know them

let alone praise their sacred
everlasting beauty

so he lived with them in some blessed
island

till he understood at last what
pleasure is

and shared it with the little brooks
and the trees

and the ferly folk marveled at his
industry.

187.

Lie here because there is nowhere
else ever

the word gave birth to me and I may
have failed the word

friend’s face among the flowers
smiling up

the image does not please me you
never can

tell what a smile is smiling at

animal wisdom I need you near

only a beast knows when to turn away

a man by the nature of time will walk
to the abyss

Empedocles Master of Consequences to
vanish in thin air

hum hum hymn of the volcano

a story broken in half we hold the
stub

the other part of it or anything
blows away.

ROBERT
KELLY