P.N. and the Moon
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.