Contents
Isolation
Lilith
Amaryllis
Ghosts
in Metal
The
Ground
Mining
Truth
Lessons
in Anonymity
Walking
Three
Nights in the Heart of the Earth
Alone
in a World of Wounds
Double Lives
The
Field
Ecstasy
of Weeds / Ecstasy of Trees
Woman
Crowded with Spirits
Metamorphosis
The
Cosmology of Insects
Kepler's
Beast / Amphibian Dreams
The
Metaphysics of Order
Devotee
of Storms
Signs
Sea
Anemone and Crab
The
Way of the Deer
Wolf
Convolutions
Dreaming
Masks
Fossils
The
Cave of Night
Druid
Tales
Forest
Magic
Protected
by the Forest
Questions
Amaryllis
I
saw you under moonlight and you
Reflected
me. I saw you under starlight
And
you grew distant and mysterious:
Your
skin was the color of evening
As
if you breathed that color in
And
pumped the blood of sky through
Your
flesh-your nipples were darker
Than
your breasts-your hair a deeper
Blue-your
eyes held aurora lights.
I
saw you again in the forest by day
Standing
under the cedars
Swaying
before me in green-
Your
body was a tender shoot
Nourished
by the blood of leaves.
Your
limbs were lighter than
Your
body, as if newly grown
And
your face about to bloom.
I
held out my arms to you
But
you turned and ran
And
changed as you did:
Clay
and dirt made you red and brown
Rocks
on the cliff turned you grey;
You
looked back once as you fell
Through
air-
Three Scenes from an Irish
Forest
I
saw her lying beneath an alder, in brown lace;
I
went to her and lay down and
reached and touched
her
face. Her brown hair hung over me and through its veil
I
met her eyes and felt her fingernails on my side.
He
appeared, as I was lying with a beam of sun,
his
handsome skin, like my fur, shining with health
and
need. He lay beside me and offered his life
which
I took in my need and made a part of mine.
I
watched a man walk directly through the forest
to
where a bear lay in the ambient light by her den.
He
lay directly down and touched her muzzle; saliva
rolled
from her mouth, running down his cheek
and
disappearing, as she tore him open with her claws.