water among the stones 97
Pausing a moment, as if interrupted,
on a stony rise, to see beside him
A stand of the slender
wild oats bending
A little stiffl
y, shivering,
each long, smooth, hollow
Pale stem fi lled to the top with late sunlight,
the husks even brighter, swinging
Under their spikelets, ablaze, in shape like
narrow fi ne-pointed lance-heads,
Or, sprung open, bird-bills held wide to call --
and the creek below them
Splitting to pass between boulders,
roaring and misting,
The mist carrying away rapidly
on the up-canyon breezes,
Over the boulders the cold shadows of alders
beautifully sidling.
xiii
john's lizard
The little lizard waits -- slender
fi ngers outspread
And long thin whip of a tail
straight as a ruled line.
Resting quietly on John's palm,
having been caught
With a looped fi ber from a stem
of grass, he tilts his head now
To hold both John and me in his calm
direct gaze: entirely
In the moment. Things Florentine goldsmiths
hammered, enchased, smoothed,
He resembles in elegance; likewise