a poem: “between two leaves of a linden tree...”

Ordinarily I don’t publish so much poetry at Theoria-press, and instead try to provide mostly essays with an odd poem or sonnet occasionally interspersed among them. But the Muse’s visits have outstripped my ability to keep pace with prose pieces so readers who prefer essays should peruse the archives of this site, which are replete with them.

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LYING on our backs
cool grass beneath us
the air of summer nights
caresses our skin, one by one
each blossom undresses and
the wafting the smell of jasmine,
incense from a thousand ivory censers
sanctifies the gentle wind:
blow you gentle wind,
and bear that subtle fragrance
over the sleeping land
while you and I, we look
between two leaves of a linden tree
(leaves that whisper in a tongue
we have long since forgotten)
and peer into a time greater by far
than our lives will compass
deeper than our eyes can fathom
or our minds can comprehend.
and what are these eons
but the blink of an eye—
the spark from a blacksmith’s hammer
the click of a deadbolt
a memory from childhood
the shadow of a thought
a fleeting speech we don’t remember
that leaves alone its fading echo
as ripples in the pool
of our understanding
fracturing the image into shards
that we are charged to recollect
over our lives together—
against the backdrop of infinity?

Photo by Jovica Ilievski on Unsplash