Meditation

Where is the woman
who can live one year as a human
and the next as a bird?

Where is the woman today
who has suckled a bear?

In old Ireland Fergne the physician
could tell from a man’s face
what the illness was.
Just as he could tell from the smoke
that came from a house
how many were sick inside.

Boys and girls, we thought
we were the wolves’ children.
That licking each other’s faces
was food for our desires.
No one warned us not to go
into the fields of corn.
The corn would keep our secrets.

Who will tell us to be quiet
among the ignorant?
To cover our heads lest
we faint from truth.

Should we not ask such things?
We know that night is 11,400 miles wide.

Without bears or bats or fire,
what is there to worship?



from KIN by Daniel Lusk