The Silver Lining

“Walking on water wasn’t built in a day”—Jack Kerouac

My face before I was born was the sky.

On Earth I stared at a magic mirror
and lived in the theater of my mind.

I rummaged for love among echoes
of flashing electrical sex
in the shadow of the world.

Suddenly everything struck me as sad.

Tuxedoed at a Big Deal Dance
with a hollowness swallowing me I cried.

All the other dancers seemed
stranded in swaggering loneliness
and I was sure we’d drown in this abyss.

And there and then I saw a slender silver strand.

It wove a stitch through us
that glowed with infinite gentleness.

And God I grabbed at it!
And here and now it’s the same way—
walking on water wasn’t built in a day.



.