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Into the glister

of the cove two ducks disap-

pear. Just about o-

vercome my eyes tear-

up and I lose track of them.

I leave them to it.

It was I pulled from

the cold as the tern broke through.

I saw it coming,

cruising and spindling

above the cove, shouldering

the light as it crashed

through and rose instant-

ly. The beauty of being

pulled into the light.

I did not ask for

it, I’ll take it, not as sign

of anything grand,

the cloud doubled in

the dark Bay waters, brighter

there than in the sky,

the empty mind re-

minded how ordinary

such transformation.

Cold wind all night long. Now I see the mountain.

I heard it before

I saw it, two swans rising

into the gray, a

rush, a gush of air

as the great white wings spread out

and up and down and

up, water falling.

I had been missing you and

for a time the void

of your death filled with

tremendous white confusion

in the empty cove.

And that arrest keeps

me moving through the winter’s

dark, open spaces.

It begins to rain.

The luminous autumn clouds

over the water

drain of light. I wave

to the old woman who minds

the plantings and paths,

though as Buson says,

I’d rather end the year with

Basho on the road.

It gets dark early

so I leave early to see

the swans in the cove.

This is new for me.

I’ve loved and been loved and no

longer seek the one.

There are many paths

to being, being has many

names, still I love to

see these two swans in

the gloaming under the pier

being together.

When it snows the geese

leave woods for open waters.

Their obstinate stares!

Simple minded, I

recognize myself when they stop

me on winter walks.

What keeps me out in the cold?

The open waters.

The way around the

cove is muffled in red leaves.

Old people walking

nod at invasive

rough-neck swans and say hi to

each other for once.

To everything

a season. I am new to

my own otherness.

The estuary.

Two swans in the yellowing

grass. Oblivion

of all the blood spilled

in the past spills through again.

Do not say progress

on the breakwater.

Say: as it grows colder it’s

good to see the swans.