|
(for Vince and Annie Clemente)
You were born glowing
And when the green bird
Landed on you
It left all its songs.
But you preferred silence,
The raindrop of a thought
Shining on a leaf,
A shadow statued in prayer.
The crowds waited like a river,
The poetry of your soul
Would silver the desert,
The aeons of poverty.
You sent them a stone,
They built you a tomb.
You pointed to the moon,
They broke all their mirrors.
Words shone like stars in your mind;
They were not to be sung.
Silence surrounded you
Like the perfume of flowers.
You breathed in the universe,
As you shed each moment
As stiff as a snake
That’s mesmerised by light.
On the edge of morning,
They found you perfected.
You’d made it to god.
They cut down a tree.
You died in the darkness
But glowing inside:
The bright songs of the green bird
Had flown from your mouth.
Peter Thabit Jones © 2010
Published in THE LIZARD CATCHERS by Peter Thabit Jones, 2006
|
