When melody was in the lakes
you stood next to them
and listened to me
as if my voice created harmony
in the natural world.
It must have been my eye
which created harmony in the sky,
the endless juxtaposition of my poetry and you.
Those were the days when I could ask the lakes what I needed to do.
I saw my young life as a swimming after frogs.
The painted turtles basking on the architecture of fallen logs
was the way nature held its breath for the everlasting father.
I didn’t mind the music in the cities. The quiet of nature
belonged apart.
The snake wasn’t allowed to kill the minnow.
I spoke out of both sides of my beleaguered heart.
I understood I had to accept it all,
even the parts I didn’t accept.
I got God right at an early age.
This led to a roller coaster of wrongs
but joy afterwards in songs.
I know every book by its last page.
To be holy I will do whatever it takes.
I’m as calm as the melody was in those green lakes.