Earthquake


Somewhere in ruined halls
he sits with his way of seeing.

& his patterns are shifting.
Along the walls the plaster falls
beside him on the floor.
The fact is, his Earth is rocking.

An ancient, mythical Giant
sits somewhere in a rocking chair
nursing a scaly demon there,
& the Earth’s scales are shifting.

Somewhere in another place
she sits wondering & knowing,
knowing that he is in this thing,
& he is likely frightened, for once,
of some force other than his own.

            He has been loud
            & he has been violent
            but never with her.

            Sometimes she would
            pull thoughts from him
            like undated bones from a rubble,
                            & he was so gone . . .

But he is someplace else,
& she is someplace else,
& for the first time ever
across this very different distance
they remember the first time
their beings were shaking,
like both of them
shake now . . .