Sidney Wade
August 2003

Heart and Soul


Heart Such beauty in the world, O mutinous giver—
                snow on the rose, the golden river . . .

Soul You loiter now, old fox, old friend,
                but you know what happens in the end.

Heart I know the honey in the spheres.
                I know the blessing in the cup.
                I know the conjugated eyars.
                I know the jig is up.

Soul Come empty in this black repose,
                the center of the turning world.
                Leave vex, leave yatter, come and sit,
                our wordless conscience furled.

Heart My fingers shade the blazing sand.
                My deserts blow with apple trees.
                A heart can change in time and does,
                a heart will take its changing ease.

Soul You understand my constancy,
                inhuman in its scope, that marks
                and coddles everything, that parks
                the brilliant warp of vision in the dark.

Heart I know. But world to body sings.
                That ragged song is ravishing.

from Celestial Bodies, Lousisiana State University Press, 2002.