In Memoriam
This is just a place:
we go around, distanced,
yearly in a star'satmosphere, turning
daily into and out of
direct light andslanting through the
quadrant seasons: deep
space begins at ourheels, nearly rousing
us loose: we look up
or out so high, sight'ssilk almost draws us away:
this is just a place:
currents worry themselvescoiled and free in airs
and oceans: water picks
up mineral shadow andplasm into billions of
designs, frames: trees,
grains, bacteria: butis love a reality we
made here ourselves ---
and grief --- did we designthat --- or do these,
like currents, whine
in and out among us merelyas we arrive and go:
this is just a place: the reality we agree with,that agrees with us,
outbounding this, arrives
to touch, joining withus from far away:
our home which defines
us is elsewhere but notso far away we have
forgotten it:
this is just a place.--- ©2004 A. R. Ammons