To leave a giant whole
Has been my only goal.
A place for friends and lovers
To gaze into,
Bottomless and deep,
Full of mystery as they think,
“Who was he, even?”
To leave my meaning everywhere
Has been my single care,
To gather love, to throw it out
To see what comes back,
Or not
To see what floats and sinks,
To dig my hole in peace
And gather things I see–
A handful of crushed dry leaves,
Bare feet in vernal ponds,
Kissed by tadpoles,
And now my oldest daughter’s eyes
Describing garra rufa fish
Then friends and lovers
And family members,
Slowly gather near again,
And shrink my hole to substance again,
Gather and hug and rejoice again,
Because my filled-in hole,
Gives then a place to stand again.