Forever at war news    I am
thinking there    nearly naked
low green of water    hard overflowed forms

water sits running    quietly carving
red rocks forcing white from the current

parts of midstream    join
I sit with one hand    joining
the other hand shyly    fine sand under

still feet    and Mary Sheffield
singing    passed-through

sustained in the    poured forms of live oaks
taking root    in the last tracks
of left and right foot    river flowing

into my mind    nearly naked
the last day but one    before world war.

When the slight wind dies
each leaf still has    two places
such music    touched alive

guitar strings    sounds    join
In the stone’s shoal    of swimming

the best twigs I have    the best
sailing leaves    in memory
pass    threading through

all things spread sail    sounds gather
on blunt stone   streaming white

E minor    gently running
I sit with one hand    in the strange life
of the other    watching water throng

on one stone    loving Mary Sheffield
for her chord changes    river always

before war    I sit down and
anywhere    water flows    the breastplate of time
rusts off me    sounds    green forms    low voice

new music    long    long
past.