Michael Ondaatje - The Diverse Causes

[sleepinthewoods.livejournal.com]

The Diverse Causes

for than all erbys and treys renewyth a man and woman,
and in lyke wyse lovers callyth to their mynde olde
jantylnes and olds servyse, and many kynde dedes that
was forgotyn by necylegence

Three clouds and a tree
reflect themselves on a toaster.
The kitchen window hangs scarred,
shattered by winter hunters.

We are in a cell of civilized magic.
Stravinsky roars at breakfast,
our milk is powdered.

Outside, a May god
moves his paws to alter wind
to scatter shadows of tree and cloud.
The minute birds walk confident
jostling the cold grass.
The world not yet of men.

We clean buckets of their sand
to fetch water in the morning,
reach for winter cobwebs,
sweep up moths who have forgotten to waken.
When the children sleep, angled
behind their bottles, you can hear mice prowl.

I turn a page
careful not to break the rhythms
of your sleeping head on my hip,
watch the moving under your eyelid
that turns like fire,
and we have love and the god outside
until ice starts to limp
in brown hidden waterfalls,
or my daughter burns the lake
by reflecting her red shoes in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgHMpYsv0_0

Comments

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing this.

[mspixieears.livejournal.com]

He couldn't write a bad poem if his life depended on it, seriously.