Night Lantern in Beitao
Light awakens in a greening room
an illuminated stir
in the limbs of a small ache
when the child’s tooth
drops
the code in his voicing
the tooth on the pillow, a dried parachute
the hum of the world spun with wayward hair
the wings predatory with the moon in the hills
the mist flowers from the hot spring pools
the long neck of longing on the horizon
in the window
ghost and cloud and love strain tea
in drops as teeth drop in the dark
age strips away the perfume of pretend
we steep cloth toward skin
and live again
as in all things
and the child wakes in the morning, unseen
as in all things
