Helen
of Troy[The Sorrow of Love]
from WB Yeats
The fighting of the
sparrows in the eaves
The full bright moon &
the star-laden sky,
And the loud refrain of
the ever-sighing leaves,
Kept hidden love’s old
& weary cry.
And then you came with
those red, red mournful lips
And with you came the
whole world of tears
And all the trouble of her
labouring ships
And all the trouble of her
million years.
And so the sparrows go on
warring in their eaves
The curd-pale moon, the white
stars in the sky,
And the loud lament of the
unquiet leaves,
Are shaken with your image
& your eyes…

_____________________________________________________________________________
The Dividing Line
-
for V. -
A river runs along the highway where a bridge
spans the space at the
water’s deepest bend,
headlights flicker off
phantom cars
driven near the edge
there’s a rural town out
there
known only as journey’s
end
behind the wheel my heart
is turning
fixed on empty yet un-
limitless it seems
my mind keeps me awake
focused on the memory of
our long repressed
but un-
forgotten
dreams
sparkling stars
phosphorescening
diamond
fires
deep womb
purple iridescent
cradle of the night
neon-blue edged
silhouetting clouds
covering
their faint yet mesmer-
izing
hue
Are you sleeping in your gold embroidered gown
The moon flies up,
blindfolds slide down
A sleepwalker wanders
sightless into town
Searching for the love he
never found
While a faceless mist drags
him to the ground
Binds him with its ghastly
clown white kiss,
As if on cue the
self-reproaching voices hiss:
she wanted kids
you never did
she wanted yours
you drove her next to him
crashed across the
concrete line
along the ravine where
demons hide
a forlorn spot all fallen
angels find
breathless
gasping
mirror
pools dark reflecting
relentless
grasping spectral branching
splintered
mementos
last
taste
bitter
bliss
it
wasn’t your fault
that
I must be constitutionally
incapable
of
sustaining
any form of
true
or
lasting
h
a
p
p
i
n
e
s
s
Once or twice a strange car passes
but mostly I’m alone on
this road so long
I hear the sound water
softly splashing
mingled with the midnight
murmur
gentle creatures solo
singing
on moonlit
moss green brown
& broken logs
Are you dancing on the
stream
or do you feel you’re
drowning
just
like
me?
I think I’m close to your hometown
but then I realize we’ve
lost our feeling
any mutual destiny
our roadmap suggests a
litany
what love can never be
a testament to
so many solitary cold
& distinctly
different
dreams
Now the bridge looms
before me,
like the shadow of a
mountain,
a haunting from the past—
should I even try to cross
its vastness
god knows
I can’t
turn around
&
won’t
go
back
I’m close to your hometown
but I stop because I see
the two called us
an optimistic
direction
that we can never be
are you dancing in your
dreams
or do you feel you’re
drowning
just
like
me?
JEFarrow
1983
_____________________________________________________________________________
Lady Mary
She
stood alone in a garden of stone
cultivating
a lifelong memory of loss
hoping
for a knight to champion her cause
to
save her from losing even more than she missed
a
noble man to the rescue with a rose or a kiss—
waiting
for a prince who didn’t exist.
Then
one day sometime early in May
he
came to the garden & asked to remain
he
wasn’t a knight or some prince in a play
he
offered no rubies or idols of clay
the
castle he built he made with his hands
he
was the future, here was her man.
He
brought the delight of a rose without thorns
garlands
of Sunflowers to frame the front door
he
called her his Lady as he knelt to the floor
overcome
by his love to do or say any more
she
looked into his eyes, to the one now adored,
then
her heart whispered softly,
thank
you, my Lord.
JEFarrow
Year of OurSELF 2007

poppies
I tippy-toe across your
dream each night
so as not to
wake you
asleep in your
summer
a garland of flowers
yellow & white around
your waist
while I walk these
paths of ice
ice my breasts & strings of ice my hair
my hands two hooks
of steel
ice nose, snow
eyes
frozen open mouth
flakes of snow
your bridal veil
I walk down your
snow-white path
garlands of poppies
spilling from
my
heart

Illuminations
The
Priest
The priest
sat in the airport bar
He was wearing
his father’s tie
He looked
into my eyes so far
Whenever the
words ran dry
Behind the
lash and the circles blue
He looked as
only a priest can, thru
And his eyes
said me and his eyes said you
And my eyes
said, let us try
He said you
wouldn’t like it here
It’s no place
you should share
The roof is
ripped with hurricanes
And the room
is always bare
I need the
wind and I seek the cold
He reached
past the wine for my hand to hold
And he saw me
young and he saw me old
And he saw me
sitting there.
Then he took
his contradictions out
And he
splashed them on my brow
So which
words was I then to doubt
In choosing
what to vow
Should I
choose them all
Should I make
them mine
The sermons,
the hymns, and the valentines
He asked for
truth and he asked for time
And he asked
for only now.
Now the
trials are trumpet scored
Oh will we
past the test
Or just as
one loves more and more
Will one love
less and less
Oh come let’s
run from this ring we’re in
Where the christians clap and the
germans grin
Crying let
them lose, saying let them win
Oh make them
both confess.
Ladies of the Canyon
Adventures of the Incredible Mr. Sandman
B. Mauritz
Once there was a little boy
All he wanted to be was a man
With a heart full of I love
you
And a mind full of I can
But as shifted sand
This man who can
Growing up can be
This slowly starting pain
And it’ll hurt from the tips
of your toes
To the very ends of your brain
Years did pass and I did grow
Many were the new thoughts I
did know
Walking in the new fallen snow
Where the willow tree hung her
hair low
That man of sand
He took my hand
You know there will be just a
few
That I will really sing this
song to
But as long as there’s a you
I come through, and I love you.







Tam Lin
[traditional]
I forbid
you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
Travel not to Carter Hall for young Tam Lin is there
None that go by Carter Hall but they leave him a pledge
Either
their mantel of green or else their maidenhead
Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she
She had just pulled a single rose, she’d taken only one
When suddenly Tam Lin appeared to protest what she had done
“Why do you pluck the reddest rose
& harm the living tree?
And why come you to Carter Hall
without asking leave of me?”
“I have the right to come & go,
it is mine by birth
So I will go to Carter Hall & not
ask your leave first”
He put his arm around her waist &
brought her to the ground
And what they did next no one could
say
The leaves were all around
Then they did fall in slumber deep
And when she did awake
Tam Lin had faded quiet away
As foam upon the lake
Her father came from out his house to roam the wood so wild
When he saw the leaves fall from her
hair, he spoke both meek & mild
"Oh, alas, my daughter dear, I think you go with child"
"Well, if that be so," young Janet said, "myself shall bear the blame
There's not a knight in all your hall
shall give the baby's name"
Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she
"Oh, tell to me, Tam Lin," she said, "why came you here to
dwell?"
"The Queen of Faeries caught me when from my horse I fell
The faery land is a pleasant place,
but there’s a darker side as well
At the end of every seven years they
pay a tithe to hell
But tonight is Halloween and the faery folk do ride
You must wait for me at Miller’s Cross
Please come for me tonight
First let pass the horses black, let
pass the horses brown
Then quickly run to the ghost white steed and pull the rider down
Take hold of me, my only love, hold me fast to you
Promise you won’t let me go no matter what they do
For they will turn me in your arms into a newt or snake
But hold me tight and fear not, all for our baby’s sake
And they will turn me in your arms
into a naked knight
But cloak me in your mantle and keep me out of sight
And they will turn me in your arms into a lion bold
But clutch me tight and never fear, it is our child you hold
When doing this of brave heart be as midnight tolls the hour
Do all this and you will save both
baby and the father”
At the midnight tolling bell, Janet set young Tam Lin free
But then appeared the Faery Queen and an angry Queen was she
"Oh, had I known, Tam Lin," she said,
"how false your heart would be,
I would have looked into thine eyes
& changed thee to a tree"



NANCY
the morning would not come
Nancy was alone
looking at the late, late show
through a semiprecious stone
in the house of honesty
her father was on trial
in The House of Mystery
there was no one at all
there was no one there at all
well it seems so long ago
none of us were very strong
ah, but Nancy she wore green stockings
and she slept with everyone
she never
said she’d wait for us
even though she was alone
I think she fell in love for us
in 1961
in 1961
it seems so long ago
Nancy was alone
a .45 beside her head
an open telephone
we all told her she was beautiful
yes, we told her she was free
but none of us could meet her there
in the House of Mystery
in that House of Mystery
and now why
don’t you take a look all around you
see her every where
many still use her body
many still comb her hair
and in the hollow of the night
when you are cold and numb
you hear her talking freely there
she’s happy that you’ve come
she’s happy that you’ve come
Leonard Cohen


insomnia
most people see their nightmares
at night
safely
when they are asleep
i see my nightmares
all day long
never safe
at night
i cannot sleep
JEFarrow
Year of OurSELF 2007

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Updated 08/08
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