“Somewhere,” “Evensong” and “Rattus Rattus”

Somewhere

Somewhere beyond the order of the sun

I would crouch sullen in the steppe wolf's lair,

Gather the darkness into bloodlit eyes,

Tune raw sinews to a pitch of rage,

Howl incessant fury to the sky.

Somewhere beyond the order of the sun

I would be red and reckless as the wolf.

Somewhere beyond the frenzy of the moon

I would lie torpid in the star mole's pit,

Merge my flesh with the relentless earth,

Twine my fingers with the roots of oaks,

Freeze dead dreams in deep uncharted rivers.

Somewhere beyond the frenzy of the moon

I would be dull and dreamless as the mole.

Evensong

Once in the morning

My senses ran in sunlit meadows,

Lingered in woodlands, light among shadows.

My blood rose in the trees,

My heart forced out the Spring.

My fingers stretched the hawk’s slant wing,

My lean eyes drew the hawk’s prey near.

But my vain soul was windward, turning

To prophesy the sun’s career.

Through morning’s sunborne intimacies

I fled the unborn evening.

Rattus Rattus

Soft to shed blows

Invisibly gray

Infallible nose

Intrepid at bay

Teeth ever growing

Eyes quick and lean

Streamlined for going

Unsated

Unsee