Re: [at-l] An open proposal

[tmcginnis@ucclan.state.in.us (Thomas McGinnis)]

     On a halfway serious note, this is the best piece of poetry I've read 
     in YEARS! I had just written down "Robert Service" to remind me to 
     bring my volume of "Tales from the Yukon" to Trail Days, when I read 
     Daniel's contribution. My first response to reading this was "Holy 
     Cow!", my second, on reflecting on Robert Service -- my favorite poet, 
     was that his light was somewhat diminished in my eyes....Tremendous 
     contribution, Daniel. Where's it from?
     --TMc


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: [at-l] An open proposal
Author:  Daniel Berlinger <daniel@circumtech.com> at ima
Date:    5/4/99 12:11 PM


To pooh, daRedhead, all (I'm prejudice. Wymen and Hiker Babes only please :)
     
I cannot offer statistics about your relative level of happiness, but a life of 
love, and poetry and music. Of being cherished and cared for. Would you? Write 
soonest.
     
Daniel
The Looking Glass Spirit
     
                           By day or starlight,
                           An eternity of thought,
                           Your tone a magic,
                           Uncomprehended,
                           An eloquence so soft,
                           The call of birds,
                           carry it aloft.
     
                           The sound persists now,
                           In the woods bird song,
                           I live for some more,
                           no matter how long.
     
                           In the pillared darkness,
                           Your song went,
                           A call to the perch,
                           To the dark and lament,
                           To the stars I decry,
                           I search where you fly,
                           I will find you,
                           Notwithstanding,
                           The size of the sky.
     
                           In an ordinary garden,
                           Rightly proclaimed,
                           Rightly declared,
                           Justifiably announced,
                           To clasp both your hands in my own,
                           A grandly enchanted moment.
                           Someone unseen behind you,
                           Takes you by the shoulders,
                           Pushes your hair aside,
                           And deftly, with decision,
                           And concern, kisses you
                           Just once, softly,
                           At the darkness below your ear.
                           Hesitation and impetuosity,
                           Spring together in the,
                           Breath of that kiss,
                           There is love in that moment,
                           As when a blossom grows off
                           A lingering branch.
                           And no one is sorry,
                           that even if just once,
                           You were kissed,
                           And cherished,
                           That way,
                           In an ordinary garden,
                           Rightly proclaimed,
                           Rightly declared,
                           Fabled enough,
                           Fervent enough,
                           Justifiably announced,
                           Without reservation.
     
                           Released in your radiance,
                           Boundless and blinding,
                           A self-luminous body,
                           Rising above the rim,
                           of the world at dawn,
                           Spacious and shining,
                           As gloriously bright,
                           As anything ever seen,
                           The torchlight used,
                           To ignite the universe
     
     
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