Start with the known,
the way a child begins.

A child begins by calling
all men father. Then, later on

distinguishes. Father: burrower,
planter of unharvestable spring.

Mother, first rope
and ring tossed to a budding

glove – a sustenance, like air
or love. Love, that triggering

nerve that in the Greek origin
myth substitutes touch for a god’s

imperative: union of sky and sea,
sea and earth. Luminous bodies

coupling like first birds.
Call it one god, one heaven

when learned
through its carcass and seed –

Palm. Milk. Soul. Wing.
Palm, fallow field surrendering

its feed. Milk, an ancient
man’s mother’s plan.

Soul, a rusted bell ringing,
striped buoy bobbing,

bobbing. Wing, a triumph
and sudden cold.