NEVER ANY FURTHER AWAY
Never any further away
than the return address
of the stranger in the doorway
who showed you his passport
like a farewell kiss.
Never any further away
than a gust of stars
kicking up its heels
on The Road of Ghosts.
As close as an open window
can be to the sky
as the night can be to a firefly
never any further away
than water is from wine
than the heart is from mind
space from time
I shall be here
like an emergency atmosphere
when things get so rare
you can’t breathe.
When you can’t find a spare room
in any of the houses of the zodiac
and the work horses are getting too high
to pay the rent.
Call on me
and I’ll be your tent.
When your welcome’s been worn out
like a doormat
on the threshold of a black hole
I’ll stop by
and pick you up like a flying carpet.
Never any further away
than this is from that
than arrival is from departure
than the beginning is from the end
when love strikes you in the heel
instead of the heart
I’ll grab my longbow
and fletched arrow
and show up like Robin Hood
and put your last archer to shame
like a seasoned champion
who knows better
than to aim a loveletter
at the moving target of a lover
without giving her a lead
that can’t be judged by satellites.
Never any further away
than laughter is from your tears
when your spirit’s gasping for light
like a candle at a black mass
and the darkness is weighing you down
a vision of burning doves
will bring me wind of this in a dream
and I’ll wake up
and be your sacred clown.
Never any further away
than a curse is from a blessing
than a secret is from guessing
when the immensity of intense events
makes your planet start to disintegrate
I’ll make up for the loss of your black sheep
with a flock of shepherd moons
that will run tree rings around Saturn
and we’ll walk awhile together again
hand in hand
like psalms through the valley of death.
If you were to fall in love with an exorcist
and he dispossessed you of your past
I’d be the one demon
left standing beside you at last
with a renewable franchise
and an infernal sense of loyalty to your soul.
I wouldn’t let the fire go out in your lamp.
We’d jump toward paradise
and I’d show you how an angel
wins her wings
all the way down.
Never any further away
than I am to you on this day
whether the darkness has flashy eyes
or stares back at you bleak and starless
I shall always be the hidden nightbird
in the moonlit birch groves
whose unanswerable longing
rises from the depths of its solitude
to remind you
that not two
is the oldest lyric of the heart.
That what the light can’t say about love
the darkness will impart.
Never any further away
than your voice is from this echo
of things that were once said
in sadness and bliss
in tenderness and despair
in madness and compassion
never any further away
than a heretic is from the fire
than the truth is from a liar
than consummation is from desire
than the moon is from its lunatic
I shall always be there in your corner
never any further away
than music is from an unused guitar
happy if you remember once in a while
some old song from the sixties
with tears in its eyes
waiting for you to pick it up and play.
And if you should ever wonder
how the tiniest whisper of love
can be heard over
the thunderous commotion of the world
how one lone star
can mean more to your eyes
than all the lights of an all-night city
don’t ask the starmaps
to look it up for you
like seeing-eye dogs for the blind.
Walk up to the high field with the broken gate
before the dew is on the flowers and the grass
where we used to lie down together
in the unmade deer beds
and breath in the inviolate luminosity of the silence
until our lungs were full of light.
And take the whole view in
from horizon to horizon
from the nadir to the zenith
from the impersonal depths of space
to the more intimate urgency of the stars
that knew you before you were born
all that vastness
all that shining
all those root-fires
that have been burning
like the eternal flames of time
just to keep the mystery of the inconceivable
in all its indefineable specifics
alive and beautiful
and just as unbelievable to the stars
that see you with the same eye
through which you see all of them
never any further away
than the simple from the sublime
than the many from the one
than the sun is from the earth
when the distance isn’t measured in miles
but years and years and years of flowers
never any further away
than delusion is from enlightenment
than before is from after
than the message is from the sign
than life is from art
than the cosmos is from chaos
than the thorn is from the rose
than dark abundance is
from bright vacancy
than a wave is from the sea
than the incomprehensible is
from the abounding clarity
of the teacherless crazy wisdom of the mind.
And do you see?
Is it clear
even through a glass darkly
or under a blaze of chandeliers
you hold it all
the moon the planets the stars
all those reciprocal distances
all those astounding solitudes
that convince us we’re alone together here
with everything and everyone forever
here in this inexhaustible place
that holds the whole of the heavens
in every single drop of water
that gathers its translucency
like an eye of ripe fruit
at the end of a branch for awhile
and sweet enough for the angels
to fall in love with the daughters of earth
lets go to bring them closer to tears
than they’ve ever been before?
Never any further away
than now is from yesterday or tomorrow
or spring is from an aging sorrow
that wants to die young.
Never any further away
than good-bye is from the inseparable
I could no more be parted from you
than I could pour
the universe out of the universe
and expect to empty the cup.
It’s that way with all things.
There’s a million ways in
but there’s no way out again.
Never any further away
than a quick watercolour
of a double rainbow
caught crying in the rain
than the herb is from the pain
than a name is
from the anonymity of love
than the homeless are from a threshold
than the abandoned are
from the searchlights
of a cosmic lost and found
can mingled waters ever be unbound.
When one heart knows
the ways of another
like a fountain knows a well
one might be the flower
and the other
the root of inspiration.
One looks up to see the stars
and the other looks down.
And sometimes love might feel
that nothing is revealed
under the endless veils
and waves of heat
that offer you nothing but mirages
in the deserts of an hourglass
you can’t drink from
but no further away
than what’s to come is
from what has passed
than the prelude is
from the last word of farewell
no further away than the sky is from a bird
or the sea is from a fish
or a genie from the last wish
he’s about to fulfill
could I ever be from you.
No further away
than the mind is from being
than the heart is from seeing
than an exile is from longing
than a garden is from its gate
than a pariah is from belonging
than a poet is from his muse
than tragedy is from the news
than bliss is from the blues
am I from you.
