56. Al-Hamid - Finding purpose

Suggests praise, warmth, seed --- 'it is the highest
and most useful prerogative of genius to produce the strongest
impressions of novelty' Coleridge

North Star
Dreams, of course, - are something –
(but shadows)
compared to green grass or thorny roses,
froth of hawthorn in early spring,
summer’s lazy river bank
or cooling hedgerows brown in fall
when nightingale arouse and carol;

(but, growing older)
not wiser,
I found a shining
- constant –
certainly you,
my love.

Genie (after Emerson)
A goblin, imp, a dervish plays
moving curtains, behind that veil
grinning, winking, sticky and fey,
thumps my shoulder blade time and again.

Sometimes cloudy vapour rises,
hovers up - above - and sways,
likes to drop a headache, haze
and hang there just above my brows.

Now and again my elbow jolts,
a finger flicks and points this way
along a rounded, hard-edged nail.

Cavort and dance, laughing like rain,
a cloud uplifts and vapour flies;
eyes of eros shine with fire.