ECHOING QUEST
The breath of tropic winds, ocean wombed,
Bends before purple altars
Of bougainvillea
As incense of night blooming cereus
Swings nocturnal stupor
Of staggering loneliness—
Seen for a moment like peeps at the stars
And afterward unremembered
Till next darkness.
Embrace of waves
Swirl and ebb green seas,
Drifting her
To distant lemon-scented islands.
Singing tides of light
Flash across the sand,
Echoing the quest of the cardinal crown
And blaze with song
The fire of tomorrow’s sun,
Haulting the winter silence
And the ritual of dust.
written 1998
