Poet and Person

[pelegrine.livejournal.com]

I sennd my messages ahead of me.
You read them, they speak to you
in sirens's tongues, ears of flame
spring from your head to take them.

When I arrive, you love me,
for I sing these messages you've
learned by heart, and bring,
as housegifts, new ones. You hear

yourselves in them,
self after self. Your solitudes
utter their runes, your own
voices begin to rise in your throats.

But soon you love me less.
I brought with me
to much, to many laden coffers,
the panoply of residence,

improper to a visit.
Silks and furs , my enormous wings,
my crutches, and my spare crutches,
my desirse to please, and worse--

my desire to judge what is right.

I take up
to much space.
You are living on what you can find,
you dont want charity, and you can't
support lingering quests.

When I leave, I leave
alone, as I came.

"Candles in Babylon" D. Levertov,1923-