Salaam
says the Sun
this dawn the next life
a new time
my shadow’s alive on the rock-
it is everything I want
to be soft, to be stone
to be nothing, to be a cloud
windblown into a fish-
is it Jesus?
the atmosphere exhales
it is something else-
a blue cloud, a white shadow
an emptiness etched into my spine -
the secret letters
shine like feathers of fire
they say “the Word
is who I am”
me? There is no God but
there is not no God
and the butterfly flutters by
a new September
ascends across this desert
and once again
my life has just begun
Salaam
night comes erasing our light
my brain is full, a burden
the day is over
there is nothing more
to be done
what must come
must come
tomorrow
the Sun, with mercy, retreats
I breathe the land’s slow release-
all colors and sound darken, cool
the sky reclines over scattered peaks
bats and insects awake and feed –
no, I am not afraid, of anything
Salaam
the energy and entropy realize
a life so full of sorrow and joy
midnight is abstract, it is free
stars radiate without purpose, pure
I am empty, I am alive
I soon desire nothing
but the caress of oblivion
that comes to me in sleep
