Classic Poem

My shifting ground from season
to season became an excuse
for begging meals, poised
for more migration
and, like the birds in their
wise flight, I kept on
beating from ocean
to ocean
from peaks to branches
from night to night
till I was struck
with the reputation of a gentle madness

after we have seen how
wise birds are
I remind you that
it is in the nature
of beings
to hurt themselves

lying on stones I was
a tortoise
carved into trunks
of trees and armrests
carved inside rings
carved on mountains' ankles
and I saw space
then I really saw space
when I found it beautiful I fell
in love with a dove
who carried me up high
she came down in the dust
when I admired
the fragrance of the earth
I lifted my spirit off the dove
and it stood erect like a spear
in space

no other fragrance actually
after Danae's
I laid the treasure between her wings
over my knees
she lowered down
ignorance and knowledge
and in my mouth she hid
witnesses of love
together we knew
the unnamable things

like a spear she froze
and lived like lightning
I wallowed in dust like a dervish
a fortune-teller in my tent
an acrobat, a wanderer
my strings droned like a bee
storming inside a bottle

I reminded you before
that beings by impulse
hurt themselves
and that between one being
and another
there is a tortoise and a dove
likewise between a tortoise
and a dove
the kiss of solitude in flight
generous blade of the impossible
and the blue crest of fondness

let my departure
from season to season
become a plea to you all
I am the truest testimony
on this matter sealed like glue
illiterate like the lion
which has a simple name
among the names: