Balm in Gilead

And so and so and so
I have come now to Gilead
A fork in a circular road
Far from the daily nap
Where all is gnashed away
Unexpected is this balm
Supplanting gravity’s sway
Gone is she who reads my palm
My lines too have drawn a blank
She thinks she holds the string, fading into space
I think perhaps we should give thanks
For this balm that’s come today.
I know I know I know!
No more wings beating against the pane
No more sacrificial tongues all aglow
No more Buddhist talk in the middle of the day
The trees they bow to me
Offering alms my way
A cardinal winks knowingly
A black beetle shimmies at my feet
Satchmo the Cheshire Cat grins
At the wisdom of absurdity
Carroll’s off with Alice disappearing again
The world one big looking glass
Lewis and Clark have discovered
Something in Ginsberg’s ass
There all the top scientists hover
Not knowing what to do
They decide to clone it
Everybody’s waiting in the queue
Whatever it is, they want to own it
Beyond the limits of the word
Whitman’s got a long shopping list
At the supermarket of rebirth
The door is a revolving mist
Lost souls haggle there for worth
Sentries preside over gravity’s heaviness
It seems no one will escape
And though I may step on one of Rilke’s fish
And sink and sink and sink; It shall not be today
For in this balm lies a moment both without and in
She smiles and reappears and disappears again
Gone is the cardinal that winks
The black beetle that was at my feet
Has decided to uncross our paths
How can I not remain attached?
Beyond the limits of paint and light
Satchmo the Cheshire Cat grins
I’m just another kite,
taken by the wind.