what happened to the yearning that called my name    from a light in a window of the cross

i shall seal up my windows to bring in the sea    sings the embryo of all we are not

comes a lover who wears the body of the moon    and my life is barely begun

how else shall the heart commune with faith    but in the disquiet of yesterday's light

on the table of stone rests a motionless song    now my forests refuse all light

the birth that was once and named forever    the pulse that preceded my heart

singing to be alone and not alone    as i sweep my aging path

the pleasure of singing into the ears of giant trees    is how i have come to change

when you wake in the night there is nothing to fear    come down to the place where you lie

low voices of trees dragging my soul by its sleeve    the lightning still in its seed

why should someone dream of me    set heart in a place beyond what is seen

the night and the day are her arms her name    and the river we are given to hold

within an earlier melody    unknown outside the dream    are the lands i am and will learn to perceive

the valley that opens where nobody is looking    the light that hurts to understand

many winters one old robe    everyone i love but do not know opening in the wind

our home as it should be    without further blessing    than the fall of all that becomes

from these rows of ashes still warm you will grow    your silence is no one else

why i can't put my mouth into words    takes a lifetime of candling for life

the orioles are here but where have we hidden the song of the trees

the heart in the stone beat again while i slept at the end of never getting home

who owns the silence    and who else would know    the love that hides our beginning

thus i was given me    vein upon vein    around eyes that were already there

the sound of the severed string is this :: which vow to your death have you failed