79. LOST WORLDS

[drunken boats]

morning I Set Sail
To the lost rivers
of a forgotten world

       gently my sail
blossomed out purple
     on the morning air
carried me
through mossy arches
deeper and deeper
into a clockless day
through a plain of
ripening corn
through a sky
or airy blue
through canal—street cities
   by the windows of their haunted houses
glitter–fish flashed
as the rivers crossed
and I rocked faster
on a current madly rushing
   between mermaid reefs that waved good—bye
lost among crossing rivers bubbling through the
whisper cities
in the shadows
I could see stars
cotton–cloud
sunshine
easing my mind
tremble–fingered I touched
   the sleep—leaf bank coming to a gentle stop

weak—kneed I got out and stood before the
immemorial forest
echoes of trees
touching in the
hollow canyons of deep
like bright–tone bells
I shook my head
and heard the mellow notes
of an ivory flute
whispers of a pale decay
in the sun–drenched leaves
timeless murmur of a brook
as I bent down to drink
       I saw myself sailing softly into
evening castles
of a deeper world
I turned and watched
    my sail crumple
        like a silk kite
                and in its place
grew a vast kaleido
scope balloon
now I was back
inside the boat
wheeling madly on
an anchor chain
and I felt the breeze
of passing stars
blackness caught me up
shook me up and
took me up
in a watermelon sky
full of thousand boats
ballooning softly in a noisy carnival
of laughing clowns and
happy faces
friends and lovers
gathered here in a
land of cooky stars
rocket witches silvery trails
black cats a hundred
barging far below
on a smoking raft of straw
until I saw
we were in a land
of giants
falling in a golden trumpet
head–over–heels
in the laughing corridor of
the great bells
of a voiceless trumpet
landed on a blade of grass
watched the flow above
tumbling crystals of
rainbow colors
suddenly I was alone with empty night above
sitting in an empty street
crying softly to myself
I was back to size
stumbling in alleyways
looking for the lost
lost worlds of wonder