Letter of Retainer
for Morton Janklow
2.
The heart was made to stammer.
How I wish it weren't so.
By moonlight, even the stars
have a grammar. Before we are
deleted from these paragraphs of snow,
I'd hold you
harmless from and against all losses
if I could,
but Earth is unforgiving.
In the samovars of night,
where all love's litanies repeat,
when grounds settle
and the time is right
we brew hope
like a small fluid contract.
So, if you wish,
we'll set forth upon an understanding,
that far rich wild trip
so dangerous to complete
which, in the suburbs of a glance,
on any avenue, beings in risk,
where all best journeys start,
with the half-lit hieroglyphics
of the heart.
~ Diane Ackerman ~
(Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems)
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