The mysteries remain, I keep the same cycle of seed—time and of sun and rain; Demeter in the grass,

Silver dust lifted from the earth, higher than my arms reach, you have mounted. O silver,

O be swift— we have always known you wanted us… We fled inland with our flocks. we pastured them in hollows, cut off from the wind

Amber husk fluted with gold, fruit on the sand marked with a rich grain, treasure

YOU are as gold as the half—ripe grain that merges to gold again, as white as the white rain that beats through

NOR skin nor hide nor fleece Shall cover you, Nor curtain of crimson nor fine Shelter of cedar—wood be over you, Nor the fir—tree

Where the slow river meets the tide, a red swan lifts red wings and darker beak, and underneath the purple down

Each of us like you has died once, has passed through drift of wood—l… cracked and bent and tortured and unbent

White, O white face— from disenchanted days wither alike dark rose and fiery bays: no gift within our hands,

So you have swept me back, I who could have walked with the l… above the earth, I who could have slept among the l… at last;

Weed, moss—weed, root tangled in sand, sea—iris, brittle flower, one petal like a shell is broken,

Will you glimmer on the sea? Will you fling your spear—head On the shore? What note shall we pitch? We have a song,