629. HERE I AM

HERE I AM
And the once and the very
and the magnificent scrawling
of Averroes too. People,
leaving home together often
come back alone. (Henry Beck,
Henry Beck, I put down that
coffee pot and you still
want it back).
-
Some great yellow ship sailing
upon the long and silent sea; I've
watched it leave Lisbon, more than
once. And it always returns, loaded and
gleaming - somehow beaded with salt
water and heavy with bales and crated cargo.
-
My mistake, way back when, 1548 perhaps,
was in blending the silver with the cadmium.
They ran together and ruined the mix, blending
colors which no one could recognize.
It had something (they said) to
do with God and the Devil, and I was
tried, found guilty, and later fried.