Against the limestone of a church
\nI say my prayers.
\nI whisper my name
\nand the locations of my life,
\nSandusky, Columbus, the great bay Erie,
\nwith its tribes of shadows,
\njourneying on the water.
\nI whisper all my conclusions
\nand give my doubt to the stone.
\nThe hand of the stone touches mine,
\ncold and grainy,
\na dream frozen in its gray eyes,
\nthe remnants of ice and Jurassic seas.<\/p>\n
All the names of all the life,
\nof all the minds and hearts
\nthat ever breathed,
\nin the dark interior of this wall,
\nthis edifice against my cheek.
\nWhere is the black polished marble
\nof the wailing wall of Vietnam?
\nLike the stone of the church,
\neach year, its names delivered
\nto the wet currents of lost rivers,
\na wife\u2019s small whimper,
\na son\u2019s lost memory,
\na mother\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n
Names in a corridor as long as time,
\nmore endless than all time\u2019s steps,
\ngoing on to Jerusalem,
\nThe cries of ancestors and rabbinical loss,
\neverywhere the same,
\nthe elephant yard,
\nthe monuments of Rome,
\nthe jungle clad friezes,
\nand cakes of green pyramids
\nand empty tunnels.<\/p>\n
Against the limestone
\nI say my prayers,
\nand the sky in its softness
\ncovers the stone with kisses.
\nI leave behind my palm,
\nthe soul of myself,
\nlost in endless numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Against the limestone of a church I say my prayers. I whisper my name and the locations of my life, Sandusky, Columbus, the great bay…<\/p>\n