|
the long forgotten hymn (I could read in you the poetry)
by Richard Paez
the long forgotten hymn
By Sumerian degrees,
in the cuneiform striations
of your impossibly brown
blue-green iris
I find inscribed
the child-scribbled
runic name
of God.
(If I cut out each mountain range
of aurora-mottled color,
lay them end to end
I could read in them the poetry
that would humble Satan.)
Your pupil is so black
it pulls. It is
the collapsed star—
the singular
engorged hollow,
the big bang
about to flow.
(Your eyelash is the text
which I spend my life interpreting:
You are not abstract--
I have abstracted you.
I deconstruct
only to reconstitute
you; only to put
a little of myself in
you.)
In this frozen moment
of your rolling down tear,
I find it is the prism
that shatters the world;
through it see myself,
my composite frequencies
projected, my-self-striations
expanded, my fixed vibrations
the horizontal step-ladders,
the footholds of your ascension.
And in the push-pull
bow-caressed music
of your muscle fiber climbing
I hear echo
the long forgotten hymn
I once sang
to your fingertip
straining to touch the violin's string
without killing its sound.
(If I cut out each mountain range
of skin-rippled-skin,
lay them end to end
I could read in them the poetry;
the very name of God.) 10/01/2004 Author's Note:
Do not follow this link.
Posted on 10/01/2004
Copyright © 2024 Richard Paez
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Alison McKenzie on 10/01/04 at 06:52 PM "Your eyelash is the text which I spend my life interpreting.." this is the most beautiful line I have read in a very long time, though I actually pictured the line as saying "The brush of your eyelash is the text..." In my mind's eye I could imagine her eyelashes, laced with ink, so close it would actually inscribe her love... |
| Posted by Scott Cadence on 10/02/04 at 10:29 PM I am never disapointed. :) |
| Posted by Deanna M Gritsonis on 10/04/04 at 03:08 PM Beautiful |
| Posted by Rachelle Howe on 10/04/04 at 07:40 PM this has got to be the most f*cking brilliant piece i've ever, ever, and i do mean *ever* read. i'm absolutely humbled by this and... oh christ, mr. paez, my god. i wish you were online right now because i have more than a few things to say to you. i'm going to a) put this on my favorites and b) have a long detailed discussion with you later. mm. must. read. over. and. over. |
| Posted by Traci Mabats on 12/24/04 at 01:20 AM yeah, this is gorgeous. |
| Posted by Michelle Angelini on 05/11/05 at 07:20 AM Richard, the lyric quality and the beautiful images throughout the poem had me like...WOW! Congratulations on POTD!
~Chelle~ |
| Posted by Tricia Marie Miel on 05/11/05 at 02:49 PM this is beautiful. congrats on POTD! |
| Posted by JD Clay on 05/11/05 at 03:26 PM Pools, hah! This peers deeper than the well of antiquity. You've brought text and meaning to an alchemic panacea. The last stanza in reference to the second truly brings this poem full circle. Congratulations on becoming The Mythical Poet Of The Day.
pe4ce... |
| Posted by Eli Skipp on 04/29/06 at 05:16 PM Incredibly beautiful! A favorite for certain. |
| 
