The Compass Rose

      I ride the night-yard's rose bush like a saddle,
      Burning to be nearer what shines afar,
      And visit all the dreaming stars for marvel,
      My rose and I still waking where we are.
5     All below is lost, I believe in what's above.
      Unburied from sleep, I and my heart arose-
      As full of feeling as empty of self, they say.
      But knowing myself as I know my yard and rose,
      I say, "Losing finds all again; there is a way."
10    Twenty years about both house and bush I've spent;
      Twenty years dreaming to the rose-soft summit
      Where the sun arises a rose and sets a rose.
      Having gone round in love, I return to love;
      I wake to see where my rose-dreaming goes.
15    My compass rose is cunning, her roots are deep.
      I dream the dream I need when I dream of sleep.
      The self is buried, and its roots are mossed.
      Roots are what come of being lost.

 

From the collection "Assembling the Earth"

Written by Gregg Glory [Gregg G. Brown]

More information available on gregglory.com.