I.

hysterical stream
mountains and creation
shuddering with desire
pines buried in
the moaning sky

having become one with nothing

spurned, it seems, by this definitive display
of love and hate
while the plum blossoms continue
the oblivious bacchanal

Nature's momentary indiscretion
carefully forgotten
but invoking a chilly wave of unease
when brought to mind by a fragment of overheard conversation:

cause of sidelong glances
pursed lips
abrupt changes of subject
and the occasional private smile

inadvertent half-lie once penned
by the author of truth,
dwelling at the bottom of the blotting-paper drawer
numbering its days
until the cosmic spring cleaning

holding doubtfully to the hope
that it may be taken
and without further examination
used to blot
to end its days filled:
one mistake satisfied at the erasure of another

unwanted love-child of the heaving universe
always sequestered or denied
but still being born
after all this time

a thing foreign:

shrapnel from a healing wound