Transience

A fox came to my yard last night,
A black and russet ghost who slid
Around the garbage cans, between
The close-packed houses by the light
Of garish street lamps. There he hid
Some moments, then out on the clean
Crisp crusted snow he stole. He thrust
His black and russet muzzle through
And pulled a struggling morsel out.
Over the ice-thick winter crust
His black paws pranced as if he flew,
Tossing with black and russet snout
The hapless mice snatched from their world
Beneath the crusted roof of snow.
As he danced and killed and ate
A winter mist around him swirled.
A biting breeze began to blow
And mist and fox blew out the gate.

Last fall, deep in my tulip bed
Among the sleeping bulbs and bugs
I found a hand-forged horse-shoe nail,
A sharp obsidian arrow-head
And shards of some wood-fired clay jugs.
Perhaps here once there was a trail
(Where recently my house was built)
Where Hurons came to make their pots
And trade for goods from far away.
Perhaps on this site blood was spilt
And soldiers fled from cannon shots.
Years pass, and on this ancient clay
The people come, the people go,
Raise kids and crops and fight their wars;
And generations pass away,
While patiently the rivers flow,
The restless lake frets at its shores
And joyful foxes come to play.

Rebirth of the Last Former God

The Phoenix arose from the boiling sea
The spray from its wings
The great metal wings
The spray from its wings like liquid desire.

The pitiless eye in agony clenched
The pain that can never by pity be quenched.
The breath that reeks of the flesh of men
The splendour that makes the peacock a brown hen.

Smouldering still from the pangs of birth
It beats the air to escape the earth.

The vortex surrounding the great molten bird
The flames of its death
The fire of its youth
The choking ash cloud of its funeral pyre

Lay waste to the islands and mountains beyond
The sea in its agony rocks like a pond
As waves from the ocean and thunders in air
Dissolve away men and their world of despair.

Creation with chaos obscenely blends
As rising through thunder the Phoenix ascends.