Exodus

A road, stranger, give me a road!
And make me a gift of sand across my face —
so I may lead the mad birds away
from the spring down to the river’s mouth…
A road, stranger, give me a road
into my hands.

Sleep, stranger, give me sleep!
And a waking from the midnight sun —
to fall asleep, to wake, and once again…
and in the end, the two at once…
Sleep, stranger, give me sleep
from the sky.

July 1994