4                   27 April 1995

To be swept up in
ship grey clouds
resting in the 
hammock of their
lowest,
darkest parts
cradled in down softness.

I long to stretch
a cats stretch
in the sun
with no eyes
and a
closed mouth
smile.
my sharp teeth hidden..
behind soft lips.
I wish to be
the dolphin
swimming fast
through the
perfect blue topaz
strong and graceful
and content.

I am the sweet
copper skin
of the earth
with green white
roots
going into my
center.

I was the enferno
or the fire
in the blackest
wilderness night
searing to
the one
who stayed in me
too long.
And the tears
I shed
at the time
all rose upward.