Forgotten Ground Regained
Do you know the way to Ziq-Zhafej?
A poem in Old Norse skaldic kviðuháttr meter
This night laston a side laneoff Greenville our progress stayed -- such a sweetfragrance to swim,lured beneath the amber lamp we stood wherestrongest it swarmed.You said, "Mmmm -- honeysuckle." I recalledmy night classes,climbing down the vine-draped slope; & you tooremembered timesmell-coded for years unsealed, told me howthe kids would tasteflower-wine its stems let flow. But I glancedup at a branchbloom-laden, gold in that light & pulled downa petal clump:drank in quite another draught than what wehad whispered of."It's this tree entranced our thoughts ... Something like--""Cherry," you said,who disliked its hearty fruit. There we were,sodium-bathed,made chumps by a cherry tree.
Copyright © Michael Helsem, 1986.