Sanctuary

Sanctuary


There are traffic lights in the trees
green to red is too sudden for me
I wait for the blue light to go.
Fallen leaves are yellow spark plugs
the sun rises in a cape of rainbow feathers
there is green fire in the eyes of all women.

All roads begin and end here
where the woods meet the water.
I shuffle memories of the future
and prepare for the past that lies ahead.

Here, now: all that I was or will be.
I am the red priest who makes love
to the insatiable Fire Lady.
I am the killer whale with the spirit fin
who swallows souls to keep them safe.
I am the Bear of battles
a dreamer made to save a lost kingdom
and the sleeping king
who must be awakened again and again.

I am the boy who knows the ways of dragons
I am the tiger that guards the flock
I am the stump of the old tree
that is putting up fresh shoots
I am the stag of the mountain
who drops his antlers and grows them again.
I am one who grows back.

Here and now, I know this:
I love to swim in the bright dark pools
of your eyes, where a child of wonder
darts from under the lilies to welcome me.

Leave it to the fisher boy with the boat
to fetch and carry messages to the world;
leave it to the faithful knight with the long sword
to guard this sanctuary. In another moment of Now
I will unfold again the long leather wallet
that holds the game of the world.

I sense the ripple from a great wave
not yet seen, from Atlantis not yet fallen.
Yet here and now, as you pluck the strings
and lives and times are dragonflies on the wing,
I drink the wind, I smell the rain,
I breathe in color, I dream a world
of love and peace. Here and now.