LOVE IN DIFFICULTY

   Reconciled

   I feel close to the source

   I am rocked in the long ark of

   poetry. In another reality my hand

   writes lines with the odor of plants

   My body, in its difficult

   times, enjoys them—keeping life

   aware and

   closer to the source. Pleasure without

   self-consciousness. Life is a trembling

   liquid, sending out strains of

   unprompted praise

   The ark of poetry

   glides away and along

   on this clear rippling

   water

   people love and feel loved, feel

   happiness calm and pure

   Love in difficulty is my

   poem. One stanza is complete. In another

   reality, a new stanza is being

   born, but isn't yet there

   I grope for lost arrivals

   Life, through me, falls

   weeping. Can't you feel the difficulty

   of connecting the first line

   with a whole life? The hardship of

   this life makes life, in another

   reality, glide

   Much love turns us, vertiginous, takes

   away suffering. The ark of poetry, at last

   watertight, rises in the latest

   days of this life. Water to

   water. Water lifts water

   in the clear calm of poetry

   In my love's fullness I

   bless those who still

   have many lives to live