​All of the clams were controlled by the rhythm
Of the sea. And all of the seas 
Were rolled about by the moon.
Of these we’re all facsimiles.

Imagine a raft of seals that is kind
And a cove in Greenland streaming light,
And all of nature is stuffed into
Your veins, and everything is right,

And even the suavity of your spine
Is attuned to a book whose mint taste
Glistens on your tongue. It is
A scarlet sash around your waist,

It is a turban. It is a ship
That sails along a forest shore, 
A mountain that rises above all hills,
And a fortress of the emperor.

​Don’t fall apart. Modesty
Is good but don’t let your brain
Shatter, your neurons quiver into
Crazy-quilt drops that drain

Away because of merciless
Humility. And when your mind
Climbs, don’t disappear into
Shaking terror, don’t unbind

Every thought you labored to
Attain. You were asked to be
Intelligent, hold yourself
Together, be a somebody.

​You break the cameras of the paparazzi
Because, you tell them, there’s nothing to see:
That’s why John Lennon didn’t believe
In Zimmerman: he fell into a frenzy,

King Kong battled the dinosaur.
And out of these realms of darkness, illusion
Battling the poisonous gas of bitter
Nihilism, collapses. Fusion

Out of that collapse, a piercing
Point of light, a nova stains
The sky, the shadows are bleached, 
The clouds shine beneath the airplanes.

​First, get into a quiet state,
Since, you know, you’re about to get sick
You’re about to fly into the hills
Of darkness and bear down to the slick

Cliffs. I know you’ve still got some
Reception, the blackness smudges ash,
What’s worse is the glassy rock that looks
Like nothing at all, the sudden gash,

Glassy rocks that rise from heaving
Volcanoes. Don’t idealize
This territory, the colorful men
Who live here, the colorful prize

Hot air balloons driven across
The sky. Remember that even Moses
Was raked across the coals, employ
A spirit that good will imposes,

Some people are drunken fools. They will
Just shut their mouths, they’ll mail back what
They stole, they’ll plant hibiscus, and
We’ll yearn for what we once forgot.

​I thought he was holding a shield. It was
A light. It showed the skeleton
Of a leaf. Sometimes an 
Entire tree glows in the sun.

And how sweet the inner and 
The outer lights together, how
Fine when human beings walking
Home see the muscled bough

Of a sycamore. You cannot
Speak to a tree of compromise.
There is no compromise. The goal
Of goals is to shine before your eyes

The light of the first thought, the thought
Of tree trunks, from which branches
Hang with leaves that reflect sweet inner
Light. And the white of avalanches

Exposes the red soil, as sages
Learn when they become elders.
Even at night you can see the gold
Blended to the silver by welders.

​Music doesn’t exist. Ask
Any cat or turtle. When
You feel it, you can stop asking.
They’ll think you’re a comedian.

Sometimes it’s music, sometimes it’s
A foal, or a cloud, or
A cubic nanogram of space.
What marvels, what a semaphore.

Mice scuttle about looking for shade.
They know they are afraid but
They do not know about the sun.
When you know about the beech nut

Tree, you see that it is a shadow
Cast by light vaster than
A galaxy. You shake off
The drops of rain, your steps span

To artist from orangutan, 
And when you open the book, the letters
Float and you float after them,
In the spirit of your betters.

​The manna was snowing outside the window.
Or were they spots before your eyes?
Rembrandt, you didn’t see the soul
But flesh that didn’t compromise

With light and shade. How much more
To see a street of light and shade
That never had been seen before
And only to your eyes displayed.