US

She remained in Joe’s Lunch Room

drinking coffee with love. Shepherds began

driving their flocks in the hope that turning inward

behind the walls of the moment,

when it seems most frightening, would bring us

the last handfuls of the harvest. I don’t understand how

I’m going to face fear with love. I don’t understand

how I’m going to balance the world. Do I wait

‘til someone says my name? Do you I let you drag me down

in the revolution while editing this vampire movie?

I went over to face the fear with a passing farmer,

and saw her and everyone as they stood silently

around the grave, thinking of the wet earth.

I’d rather fall myself than chase you

around the field, or let you drag me down

in the hope it gives us, that the world might offer us

a pipe. I’ve forgotten everything about you,

I’ve forgotten the fields all stretched out. I’ve forgotten

the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

(November 19, 2011)