I noticed it climbing up—

each blade of grass

burned smooth lips of light

with their own private hue,

all flip sides of jade––

the secret passions of violet,

the erotic invitations of red.

Tucked in the mountain’s sides were

several boulders made from

 that solid light born

of a single shared kiss.

A cave flooded

with thousands of chanting fireflies

glowing your world inside out.

At the bottom

I had started in stone boots

and forty-pound furs.

Half-way up, a pink wind

 warm as an unborn spirit

pressed me teasingly

against a silver tree

of knowledge divine

and shredded from my limbs

the weight and skin of dead beasts.

Wrapped my knees and genitals,

my chest and face

in the cloak of a healing sigh.

Reaching the top

my stone boots crumbled

and I sat with crossed legs

upon a carpet of painted fire,

rainbows pouring through my hands

like sweet wounds of grace

bleeding a naked peace

for all this world to see.

From the raw edge of the summit

I looked out on the sea––

a mahogany ship with giant sails

shaped and colored

like eyes born wide open in Egypt

dreamed of the history of the future.

In the waves beside its hull

floated a rose longer than a whale.

And the rising sun showered gold

upon a cloud of pearl-blue angels.

A dolphin leapt high to kiss

a jewel-titted humming bird.

Within a song-filled field behind the sky

a woman made of joy

danced naked to the sizzling music

of a winged candle of hope.

I sat in love’s fire watching

eagles of lightning lift and scream

your soul out of my chest

and wing their way toward the jubilant dawn.

Aberjhani

© 11/19/05