I.

I dream of you walking at night along the streams of the country of my birth, warm blooms and the nightsongs of birds opening around you as you walk. You are holding in your body the dark seed of my sleep.

II.

This comes after silence. Was it something I said that bound me to you, some mere promise or, worse, the fear of loneliness and death? A man lost in the woods in the dark, I stood still and said nothing. And then there rose in me, like the earth's empowering brew rising in root and branch, the words of a dream of you I did not know I had dreamed. I was a wanderer who feels the solace of his native land under his feet again and moving in his blood. I went on, blind and faithful. Where I stepped my track was there to steady me. It was no abyss that lay before me, but only the level ground.

III.

Sometimes our life reminds me of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing and in that opening a house, an orchard and garden, comfortable shades, and flowers red and yellow in the sun, a pattern made in the light for the light to return to. The forest is mostly dark, its ways to be made anew day after day, the dark richer than the light and more blessed, provided we stay brave enough to keep on going in.

IV.

How many times have I come to you out of my head with joy, if ever a man was, for to approach you I have given up the light and all directions. I come to you lost, wholly trusting as a man who goes into the forest unarmed. It is as though I descend slowly earthward out of the air. I rest in peace in you, when I arrive at last.

V.

Our bond is no little economy based on the exchange of my love and work for yours, so much for so much of an expendable fund. We don't know what its limits are-- that puts us in the dark. We are more together than we know, how else could we keep on discovering we are more together than we thought? You are the known way leading always to the unknown, and you are the known place to which the unknown is always leading me back. More blessed in you than I know, I possess nothing worthy to give you, nothing not belittled by my saying that I possess it. Even an hour of love is a moral predicament, a blessing a man may be hard up to be worthy of. He can only accept it, as a plant accepts from all the bounty of the light enough to live, and then accepts the dark, passing unencumbered back to the earth, as I have fallen tine and again from the great strength of my desire, helpless, into your arms.

VI.

What I am learning to give you is my death to set you free of me, and me from myself into the dark and the new light. Like the water of a deep stream, love is always too much. We did not make it. Though we drink till we burst we cannot have it all, or want it all. In its abundance it survives our thirst. In the evening we come down to the shore to drink our fill, and sleep, while it flows through the regions of the dark. It does not hold us, except we keep returning to its rich waters thirsty. We enter, willing to die, into the commonwealth of its joy.

VII.

I give you what is unbounded, passing from dark to dark, containing darkness: a night of rain, an early morning. I give you the life I have let live for the love of you: a clump of orange-blooming weeds beside the road, the young orchard waiting in the snow, our own life that we have planted in the ground, as I have planted mine in you. I give you my love for all beautiful and honest women that you gather to yourself again and again, and satisfy--and this poem, no more mine than any man's who has loved a woman.

What follows is a discussion that I had with Doc. I thought I should post it here for it might be interesting to a few others too.

Yes this was a very beautiful piece this issue. Check it out: Homeland or the Deception of Things

Me: sorry was reading a legal/social article on citizenship and what that entails Her: ok Me: it's interesting Me: was triggered by you "patriotic" impulse to conduct an mini inquiry into that Her: mine is not an impulse Me: yes perhaps it is not Me: but it begs for a lot of answers Me: sorry but this has been like a crack that I can't resist worrying... Her: me confused? Her: ok read, Her: umm, I’m working so going to keep doing that, ok? Me: ok peace Me: go do work Me: sorry I am mumbling around Her: yeah, get to the point Her: crack = ? Worry why? Me: no a series of interesting questions come up Me: like what were you before you took on citizenship? Her: no answers there, within me, sorry Me: less patriotic? Her: towards US, yes Her: didn't care about either Me: less American? Her: perhaps Her: couldn't celebrate certain holidays in same light Her: wasn't a sense of same unity there is now Me: then a series of different questions come up Me: how does this unity come about? Me: factors of identification? Her: people just kind of treat you differently Me: do the lines vanish really? Her: no but there's sort of a coming-out Her: with party celebrating/congratulations said...weird Me: no this comes from a sense of knowing a bit of troubled history US Me: has with defining that Me: the biggest one being internment of Japanese Americans Me: were they less American? Her: question has been asked billions of times Her: no real answer Her: except xenophobia Her: and fear of previous link/heritage influencing them more than current nationalism as Americans Me: so does that mean patriotism has a selective memory Her: no Her: you're confusing Her: people's perspectives of others patriotism Her: with their own perspective and devotion to it Her: it's prejudice Her: not selective memory Me: ok I meant that some patriotism being selectively better than others Me: or being perceived better than others Her: explain further Her: that's the fault of the perceiver, right? Me: isn't it there a fault with the definition of a nation? Her: like judging a diamond as real, few real measures Me: what makes a nation? Me: ideas? color of the skin? Me: habit patterns? Me: economics? Her: ideas and rights..."one for all and all for one" unity Me: an ideal of oneness with a selection policy inbuilt? Her: selection policy? Me: yes one for all for one... only if you have a certain qualification... Me: peace i guess i would find it difficult to find myself a label except perhaps as an universalist.... Her: ideally, yes, citizenship, which makes you, take an oath to the country Her: citizenship as the qualification Her: grand to be universalist but not realistic in this miserable world Her: and one where you need to belong somehow Me: ya being a high ground idealist I find that sucks Her: cause of all wars, think about wwii, cause? Me: what will you call Americans who support Israel almost to the point where they give the impression of being citizens of that country? Me: Jewish Americans? Her: their own group Me: lol Me: true Her: they find unity within that Me: then this dissolves the notion of Americanism Her: I guess the only selection policy is patriotism Her: no Me: poof! Then it has vanished Her: America is the melting pot Her: acceptance of all Her: and unity with patriotism to this one above all Her: reason why there is written in a separation of church and state Me: lol that sounds like the blurb of some Govt propaganda sheet Her: although Me: sorry Her: not fully carried out because no president yet Her: has been not a white male Christian Me: actually I think the only thing that matters Me: is power Me: and cash Her: in reality, yes Me: and i don't see a minority guy being one Her: but people like to live in their own ideal worlds and ignore the corruption of it all Me: dukakis Me: was the closest who came to it Me: and he got his ass whipped Me: by the bushie dynasty Her: that was different Her: lots of factors there Her: gulf war factor Her: bush was vp for 8 yrs prior and people liked him Her: wanted to keep republican Her: he lied Her: read my lips "no new taxes" Me: ya true like the current guy might win in the next round by selling the voodo of war on terrorism Her: last statement main reason he won Her: haunts him now because he had to raise taxes anyway Me: peace i was asking this question to myself Her: my mom is still patriotic towards India though Her: loves singing the national anthem Her: that they had to in school everyday Me: can my kid have a shot at it? Me: yup we had to Her: at what? Me: presidency Me: lol Her: maybe Her: if it becomes more liberal Her: need Colin Powell to break the trend Her: but he won't run Me: yup he would have been real afraid of his ass Her: few requirements for presidency though Her: native born American Her: over 35 years old Me: he could have been assassinated Her: some other something...service in something Her: probably true Me: ok peace Her: but he's half and half Her: and his wife is white Me: lol Her: white Me: whiter your are closer to power you can get Me: sad Her: mmm Her: yes, sad Her: but he can crack it I meant Her: because of all these factors Her: set a precedent Me: ya i see what you are saying Her: or break one Me: it is puzzling political apathy Me: sorry if any of this made you uncomfortable Her: no, why Her: I’m not ashamed or afraid to say I’m patriotic even if you attack it Her: I just am Me: lol good it's better to believe in something Me: belief has it's own madness