(1)
Your crimson rocks soothe and burn
At the same time—what redness!
Your eyes, aflame, yearn
All day long, and at sunset turn
To cheeks blushing in shyness.
(2)
Beneath the blanket of night,
Irreverent, insomniac earth
Sings her onrushing song out of sight.
I cannot (strain as I might)
See Oak Creek—source of her mirth.
(3)
Snowflakes falling—steamy water,
Water bubbling round the redwood tub—
My neck and face do not shudder.
As for the rest of me, why bother?
A towel’s nearby on a shrub.
(4)
No bouquet from any wine
Or lilac bush can match the way
That new-burnt juniper and pine
Have to thrill the lungs, and incline
Them to the challenge of the day.
(5)
And as for taste, what finer food--
What greater good--can we enjoy
Than friendship? Through it, what's brewed
In heaven, charity, may lift men's mood,
Though men may know not how or why.
For Scott and Marilyn, 2011
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