102

Response to a Friend

Hard to say I love you ?

Not for the quiet growth the years bring,

hardly noticed, though we both sing

higher to some hidden cue.

Such knowledge should bloom slow,

neither nightmare nor naked epiphany

(exploding, gone, leaving the will free

to know or not to know)

but, as the words recur

leading us deeper through the coils of act,

we come to comprehend the fact

behind them, nourisher,

until archon can say

thou to archon, and the question rests: a white

lotus on still waters where bright

dragonflies plunge and play.