I cannot hold any moment for long —
a slur of birds,
arriving from the brink of all beginnings.
After-sounds of birds or remnant rain
tugged my bell-rope life —
unsettling large wings.
arriving at this empty afternoon.
Light’s after-spill,
shimming a fox’s tail,
brushing stars and
reverberating crickets,
a chorus of returning lamb bells.
It is late — an intersection
between decisions and actions,
already leaving over the horizon.
Darkness is rowing this way.
Moonlight sonatas,
veins of natural light, straining:
too late, the oars are whispering.
Martin Willitts Jr has 24 chapbooks including the Turtle Island Quarterly Editor’s Choice Award winning, The Wire Fence Holding Back the World (Flowstone Press, 2017), plus 19 full-length collections including the Blue Light Award 2019 winner, The Temporary World. His recent book is Unfolding Towards Love (Wipf and Stock, 2020).
Painting by George Bellows.
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