Sunday, December 14, 2008

IF THERE'S FIRE IN YOUR DIAMOND

IF THERE’S FIRE IN YOUR DIAMOND


If there’s fire in your diamond

and there is, sometimes people

will turn their hearts into fire hydrants

and come running to put it out

as if fire were their worst emergency.

What the fools don’t know is

that when the diamonds get hot enough

they flow like liberated mirrors

through the dry creekbeds

longing like oases in a desert of stars

for the next flashflood of light.

And they taste of eyes

that have looked at the moon a long time,

and ravens of coal

that were jewelled by their clarity

deep in the igneous snakepit of oceans

that move creatively under us

trying to make the pieces fit

like the continental plates

of a shattered skull

that has mellowed into a jigsaw puzzle.

Listen to me, babies; listen now.

This is a school of rogue stars,

sabres of light that flash like fire

off the windows of your waterjewel

like translucent insights at a glance

that add themselves like eyes to the shining.

Return what you see to the seer

and everything will become

exquisitely clear.


PATRICK WHITE