Once upon a dreaming green
By the ocean’s clapping heart
Swayed full with thunder wonder
I saw the river flowing

Change course, dry up
Make islands, golden dreams
Drain fields, ambitions
Unmitigated, oblivious

Winging onward
Like crabgrass, Like dirt
Unbounded
Like winds unhinged

No rhythm so replete as days
Each different, all unchanging
Grief and joy alike
Turn to dross, cheap decoration

You, agent of emptiness, why
This running choice, this still
Cunning, this rumination
Of not ending, not beginning?

I read the universe arose from nothing,
So gone, so not
I try to keep it from slipping shut,
A splendid churl, eyes blinking