I searched every tonal koan and cranny,
every nook and canary-yellow,
but still I did not find you

Traversed eons, then ions,
kept my eye on the prize,
when crossing looked left first

I saw you'd left
no note, nor song, 
nor rhyme scheme, 
though the author,
songstress, and poet,
were there 

until she wasn't

Looking back to the way we looked forward,
it is hard to contemplate how easy it was
to detour so widely

So wildly the winds once blew your sails,
hale gale force gulping big riptides
in its froth the surface found calm
spent by its constant churning
to mind the heart

for to mine love once must sometimes dig deep, 
rarely does it simply lie there 

on the ground unattended
perhaps I lie to myself

underground, I was once fully attentive,
with each new birth I earn, I learn 
to continue to be so

to distill the most from each breath
of each life

vigilant consciousness
on the alert for 
any impending
rapture

Chagall 2020