You never enjoy the world aright till the sea itself floweth in your veins.—Thomas Traherne, Centuries of Meditation
1. Dawn
All through his body is a joyful pulse That says his love’s more wide and canyon-deep Than anyone can tell—the morning dew Increases him, and he wraps round the Earth.
2. Noon & Night
Inside his skull, the innocence of sharks Disperses fins of rainbow, ruby, pearl; Within the heart’s a beat unspeakable, Though peaceful, tethered to a coral branch.
3. At all Times, in all Places
He’s sportive in eternal founts of time Where all of past and future surge as one, Where trooping waves dance up a shingle beach, Laughing and tossing bright confetti wealth Of burnished glass and conch and weed to shore In tide that’s full yet always coming in.
Marly Youmans’ The Curse of the Raven Mocker was recently issued in paperback (Firebird).
Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today/Books & Culture magazine. Click here for reprint information on Books & Culture.
