Impurity

Sand travels.
It flows, it blows,
it mingles with the unimaginable.

Marriages sown into shifting plains,
the scent of those who fled,
whole tribes who scattered,
the glassy life
that somehow shattered.

Diamond rings
sunk in golden beaches,
and ant lands,
and god knows what made it
to the farthest reaches.

Blending the pieces
is an Earth who refuses
to forget a single scrap,
even the inconsequential
particulars
that escape the human map.

In our heads
we may well hold a clean vision,
such as one who waits alone
on a clear day
at a station

a good half hour
before the train is due.

Plover

Plover, even Death would be startled by your cries.

When I heard you passing by that night

Beyond my same old kitchen window,

My toes went chill, and my glasses fell

Off my nose and landed in my soup,

And I wished I could have fought a little harder

For all the things I love.