Bright Shadows (2002)

...Welcome joy, and welcome sorrow,
Lethe’s weed and Herme’s feather,
come today and come tomorrow,
I do love you both together!

— Keats, "Welcome joy, and welcome sorrow"

It’s that human bite
in the immortal wine,
the lintel found in the woods.
Bright shadows
mewl for seed
in dewy fields of bone:
a little wild blood,
a pinch of old rot,
three giggles to wind
the charm tight.
I can’t say what is brewing
in this pot of song,
each day ladles
up stranger cups.
I am just a door
between this This
and That, a minstrel
of dark oceans
with my motley cap,
weaving maudlin
shades into the back
of every room.
Here’s to dancing
in that glittery curl
before the next wave
heaves and goes boom.