for Kieran

The bird is king.
Take the third dimension,
rise as high as blue heaven,
skin the peaks,
you may never---certainly never
make such a show of bravado.

And everything you feel is surface,
inert, impervious, blind rock,
air like a telescope, the remote is nearby,
the Sun, the true Sun streaming into your veins
from across simple and hostile space.

A scratch on the palm of your hand,
even the mountain has heard of the sea,
two hands, right to right, the interlocking fingers,
yes, we have heard the sea.

Harvard College Observatory
Cambridge, Massachusetts
1991 August 18