Taken In Faith: Poems

Point Lobos, 1950

Point Lobos,  A meadow of wild grass, heather, and sage Lies here amid the promontory hills Out of the view of either white-rimmed bay, Whose indentation marks the coastal sills. Water that lay below the winds’ upheaval Moves through the turbulence of reef and spray To calm again, clouding above the cypress. The scene is fixed within the tranquil day And is held firm without my mind, while I Remember a high plain, barren of trees, A granite-sanded butte immersed in sage, A pitted hill of copper, manganese, Silver and quartz, of porphyry and gold, A gutted hill that poured a copper creek Steaming into the cold, unburdened air, Bearing as dross what later men will seek. It is as if this time were that again, Found in the scent of sage so perfectly It is held whole within the mind this once United to myself and I left free. For memory that carried too much pain For men destroyed by earth, then buried there, Would not appear nor yet be exorcised But altered sense, as ghosts have altered air.  You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. And as the face, obscure and incomplete, Which love, deprived, creates when it must change, That time survived, unknown, in other times And was perceived in innocence as strange. Till other change, willed or induced by age, Delivered feeling from servility, Revealed and yet assuaged the pain of loss, Letting the lost appear as it must be.  You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...