Saturday, April 02, 2011
A Walk Before Dawn
i love to be alone
with the world
that’s why i walk
in the wee hours
before the sun
erases the sky
of all mythology
my lonely footsteps
seem to echo
for blocks
up in the heavens
i can see a faint edge of white
run from a queen reclining
in the north
through a swan high
at the top of the arc
to a scorpion’s tail
in the south
pointing to the absorbing center
of the galaxy
the splash of milk is blanched
by the swift aging moon
now reduced to bull’s horns
just above the horizon
because my mind is sneaky
and full of time honored patterns
i’m worrying about my future
one sage of long acquaintance
always says fix your thoughts
upon the now
another says
forget the past-
repeat the mistakes
but the blind
singer of songs
as usual
had the balance right
though a man must
march with the times
he has an eye
for the day ahead
as well as
the day behind
i’m passing a gated community now
suddenly
as if my shadow
triggered it
an electronic gate
starts to swing shut
groaning on its hinges
not a soul in sight
an old world sage
would call this technicality
a synchronicity
a new world sage
far more ancient than
the old world one
would call it an affirmation
our creatively destructive world
would cheerfully remind me
one gate closes
another opens
in any given fiscal quarter
the question remains
what just closed in me
and what is opening?
my oldest friend
would scornfully say
an expletive deleted gate just closed
and what will most certainly open
is your foolish pocketbook
but as my footsteps
now echoing louder than ever
lead me back home
i can’t shake the hunch
he just might be wrong
Marc Ladewig
Author of Odysseus-The Epic Myth of the Hero
