In a sea I lived.  in solitude.  and it bore me up
on a wave.  over the marketplace.  pacing
like an injured animal.  it bore me up
over the land of sleep and poison flies
a tower rising through the clouds of maleficence
my tongue.  in flames.  my fountain.  overflowing
in the cold night air.  while strong winds blew
along the battlements

naked stars.  millions and millions of miles away
on the open heights.  I could feel their light
entering my skin

above the din of buzzing flies.  I rose
above the parasites and bloodsuckers
who had drained me of my will
swallowing fire.  I climbed up to my wilderness
with a flight of frozen songbirds in my heart
 

©1992, from NOSTALGIA OF THE INFINITE (Ocean View Books)