A wave: a mountain, writ in smaller terms;
a breath: the substrate the clouds require.
A flame: what once was stellar, what confirms
how little heat remains of ancient fire.
A lie: the progenitor of truth.
A life: a congress of the devils’ schemes.
A death: the corpus of the same, uncouth
and plain, a record kept by what redeems.
What did Heraclitus say? We step
and are baptized again with every stride.
What did Schopenhauer dream? Ask sleep,
or Shiva burning, Vishnu set aside.
What did Giacometti see? A nose—
whatever you inferred, I meant it so.