A Canticle for Canis

A Canticle for Canis

-- But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. (Ps. 37:11)

Original Text

Bruce Meyer, Mesopotamia: New Poems (Sudbury, On.: Your Scrivener Press, 2009): 41-42.

2 won't let me go back to dreaming,
3 so I watch rain falling on the lawn,
4 and your breath is softly syncopated.
5 The air is soft, too, soft as the skin
6 that crafts your ears and delicate
7 as something you might say when
8 your breath is softly syncopated.
9 I imagine you pulling me ahead,
10 grasses parting like a ship at sea,
11 the scent of life rising from the dead
12 and new breath is softly syncopated.
13 Were I capable of being musical
14 I would go to the piano now,
15 let my fingers dignify you in canticle
16 so your breath is is softly syncopated.
17 Between the silent pauses of drops,
18 I raise you in my arms so you can see.
19 Where will we go when it stops
20 and our breath is softly syncopated?
21 We cannot walk yet. No one is awake.
22 The streetlight still glows in daft hope.
23 If this is a day when the heart will break
24 and your breath is softly syncopated
25 to the rhythm of name tags jingling
26 as you turn your head to face
27 the glint of rising sun signaling
28 how our breaths are softly syncopated,
29 we will somehow press on together --
30 man and man's best friend in an age
31 of hope against hope and hope's weather
32 for life's breath is softly syncopated.
33 As I whisper go, you perk your ears,
34 tilt your head as if you understand.
35What is the best way to face our fears?
36 Why is breath so softly syncopated?
37 Life's better when we walk or walk it off,
38 stopping to study every something new;
39 everything changes and exhales love
40 and each breath is softly syncopated.

Notes

1] Canis: the dog. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2012
Form
Special Copyright

Copyright (c) Bruce Meyer. Printed by permission of the author. Any other use, including reproduction for any purposes, educational or otherwise, will require explicit written permission from the poet.