taking life as it comes is the extraordinary task.
any voyage i take today, i take alone, sailing
an internal sea.  so dim,  so far, those lights i once saw
on the Yangtze, farther still the stars in your
stumbling sky.

but really, this year, it is my sky that is stumbling
on ahead trying to wait up, but unable to maintain
a midnight vigil past a fleeting dream.  even if there were
a steam whistle, i would be unable to hear it
through the sea-billows of all the things you said
that still linger in my right ear.

shadows have spread across my face since that last
day you saw me. now i am waiting for the march wind.
it's not that i want to repossess your heart or soul, not
that i need to grasp you at the edge of that stone bridge
where our hands touched and stars sprayed us with light..

i only need to launch my soul's quest there like a kite
that will give its tail a shake and keep
on climbing higher and higher,
a question mark in the sky