The Fortress

 

T  H  E        F  O  R  T  R  E  S  S 

 

This darkness that arises to shut out

a whole set of stars,

This shipness,

Which in the day the aspect  of the rough

round rocks assumes,

Hewn out of their part,

Is the dust which was molded into me,

The fortress that defended us,

Deserted and silent now deserting us,

As our lineage drifts from its sinking,

Into another world of fortlessness.

 

Yet it is kin.

Its rain-battered blacknesses

Elephantal,

Draws me in

As it does

The roads from afar;

Astride the past into which I am homing,

Banner resplendant

And as I depart,

Diminishing mammothly into a significant speck,

Which will faithfully arise again if I return,

Or yet remain gigantic

In some sure corner of the converting world

Within me,

Defending.