Words of a Gilyak Nomad

            Look, Oh White Man
            When the moon is round
            Can you not see him--
            The Nibach*
            On the moon?
             
            See, Oh White Man
            When the night is light
            There he goes, up there--
            The Nibach
            On the moon.
             
            Soon, Oh White Man
            When time has turned
            He will come down, he will--
            The Nibach
            On the moon.
                P.N.
                    *A Nibach is a bear.
                     
                     
                    Comet
                     
                    Bellowing, the dog salutes the moon
                    And the cat mews quietly.
                    What goes upon the night?
                    A breeze tickles the grass
                    And the trees stir sleepily.
                    From the window bright eyes watch
                    Something different,
                    Something strange,
                    And across the long shadow
                    Skitters a white rabbit.
                            P.N.
                             
                             
                    A Moon Wish
                     
                    Build me a temple upon the bright sea;
                    Shape me a ship to sail the country;
                    Land me a horn to wake all the elves,
                    Give me a rope to tie all my selves.
                              P.N.
                               
                             
                    The Night and Me
                     
                    Sleep, dreary sleep, full of drugs,
                    I do not wait upon your dreams,
                    Tonight I flee from you
                    And greet the lonely night.
                    I do not ache to forget the feel of air upon my breath,
                    The sound of night in the depth,
                    Tonight I will not dive into your curious still waters.
                    I shall sit with night and stroke her timid face.
                    I'll wait for her meeting with day.
                    We'll stay side by side
                    In our joy of being for awhile.
                        P.N.
                                 
                         
             

Gifts

            The Moon belongs to yesterday,
            The Sun to the morrow;
            To the Sun I give my joy,
            To the Moon my sorrow.
                  P.N.
                   
                   

Night Spell

            Elemi, Elemi
            Sprite from the moon,
            Swaying on cherry tree,
            Waving witch broom.
            Centipede, Centipede
            Mickle-forked clown,
            A mandrake for rider,
            Stars upsidedown.
            Harebell and cockerell,
            Montage in rhyme,
            Elm leaf and Eros,
            Canterbury chime.
            Siskin and shuttlecock,
            Shiveree Shoal,
            A kiss for the Wizard,
            Midnight pass toll.
            Oxalis and eagle owl,
            Chaldean haunt;
            Robin Goodfellow,
            The night echoes taunt.
                  P.N.
                   
                   

Primeval Night

            The forest sounds in silence
            Through the closing open night.
            And quickening on the quiet
            Are the things that move in fright.
            The tiny constant rustlings
            Plucking the unknown,
            The cheeping, piping, hissings
            On the wind outblown.
            The falling sifting, drifting
            Of leaves throughout the air,
            The cry of a creature
            Alone in its lair.
            Earth's dark ear presses tightly
            To the conch shell of sound And hears the faint vibrations Of the day spellbound.
                P.N.
                 
                The Great White Sands
                 
                Over the desert
                Over the wide sands
                Over the gypsum dunes
                The moon shines;
                And from hiding
                Come
                The White
                The Apache Mouse
                The night insects;
                Theirs
                The Wilderness
                The silence
                The mystery;
                Theirs
                The Flaming Tapir
                Candle of the Lord
                The Yucca;
                Theirs
                The quick of the heart
                The wind of the wild
                The need of the night.
                    P.N.
                     
                  Amnesia
                   
                  Last night,
                  Sly spirits of the moon,
                  I caught your magic
                  In a cup
                  And filled with nectar
                  The nothing of the night.
                  Yea, I drank
                  Deep of your delight;
                  And found therein
                  A secret sweet
                  Between us two
                  Alone beknown.
                  True, last night
                  Revealed all being and why
                  I owned the sky
                  Out far to the faintest star;
                  The beauty swayed my soul
                  'Til sleep craved your light.
                  And when slow I awakened,
                  You were not there, no
                  The cup was empty, bone dry
                  And I had forgot, forgot
                  What once I knew and why,
                  Outside, a bird mocked and mocked.
                              P.N.