In morning light with wind on the sea
you wouldn’t think of all the earth holds buried,
the unremembered dreams and ambitions past.
Bones of warriors in ships of steel,
tusks of elephants, claws of tigers,
all the sharp points of advance
dulled by years passing
in the great cemetery of earth.
Over the graveyard Time walks
hearing the cries of the forgotten,
scattering seed on the hallowed ground
to rise from the dust and ashes
and flower with impossible color
in the somber gardens of death.

Silence in the sea;
beneath the waves and wind
quiet of the voiceless deep.
Presence without words
teaching change,
mood and temperament,
arriving full with joy, departing
not a backward glance.
Rocks drink this knowledge,
creatures within and above,
me as young as grass
beginning the long courtship.
Each day listening, watching
as wind lifts the flooding wave,
ebb tide swirls and boils,
sounds of gull and rushing wing
and these words, only feathers ruffled
by the song written in silence.

The earth will rise,
seas will part,
across the vast land
winds of change
turn day to night
and night to howling dark.
Animals take shelter
in the highland wood,
birds in every brush and thicket.
A moment comes
silent and serene
when clouds open
and memory resolves.
The voice that sounds
rings upon the mountains,
ripples across the deserts,
lifts bright waves
upon the sea.
There is only one life
this voice will say.
The age of war is over.

A big city crow
sagged the power line,
giving me a one-eyed stare
of dark caution.
I saw a few birds,
dogs on leash
but nothing else
spoke from the wild.
At the party
there were chances
to stumble and fall,
letting the wine talk
instead of my better angel
but the outline of crow
guarded the door,
demanding silence.
How could I refuse?

Down is up the final call
when the great ship of mediocrity
slips beneath the enveloping sea.
The engine of geology
moves the continents,
biology cleanses the land,
breathing life back into the ocean
and the creation of sadness
departs like an eclipse.
From behind the shadow
a new sun and moon appear
looking down on the earth born
as gravity dissolves
and the green land rises.