The spaces between
stars

 

Some nights when the sky is clear the tangled net of
stars

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">is like a map that no hand will
penetrate, a chart so locked &;amp;
rigid

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">it makes forms in the black &;amp;
asks that we name them

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">&;amp; we
hold them to their names, so desperate in our
darknesses

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">we have no other
words for what we are feeling, the bears and
belts,

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">nymphs &;amp; scorpions, the dark
clamor of explaining what cannot be
known.

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">When I was young
I wrote these lines:

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">There is a word
for the spaces between the stars,

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt">unpronounceable 
in every language I
know.

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">I excavate the
past, the lost bodies, the angels I
desired-

Les anges qui sont si belle et si
tranquille-

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">and in the ruins
I find the gems I lost the runes the rhymes I
spoke

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">where no hurt
went untold &;amp; the sky's dark rainbow
arced

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">over a land of enchantment, the dark
forests so sweet &;amp;
dreamy

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">when we entered them, the dank moss the
stir of wind pale skin the
dream?.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">When I was young
I wrote these lines: Chalk lines

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">mark the floor ,just where you
stood.  I was
afraid. You

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">were just saying ordinary things.
Nothing meant anything.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">The poet and the
man were still a boy, the dark
one

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">walked in his darkness, without light to
guide him.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">The boy was
afraid, lost in his wounds, lion cub in tall
grass.

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">In the darkness
now, digging, my hands touch stones &;amp; they feel like tiny
hearts,

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">obsidian
&;amp; cold, &;amp; endless in their thirst?&;amp; I lay them
down again.

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">When I met you I
let every poem I had ever written go free, I released
them?

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">And now I come
to you again, in the spaces between the
stars,

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">the deep rich blue that is endless, that
is nowhere &;amp; everywhere, surrounding
us

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">&;amp; all the space that exists
between us-a heart
unclenched

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">in the simple
dusk, as the night comes
on

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">&;amp; I think of what I would say to
you if you were with me
now,

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">my breath frosting the panes as I look
out into the gathering
dark

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">&;amp; see
the stars come on, one by one?your hand in my hand
still

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">as I write these words, as I let you go
into the sky

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">&;amp; hold
you as close as the blood that beats in my heart, saying
softly

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I remember
thee