After Keats's Name was Writ in Water

A Man’s Life of any worth

is a continual allegory—

and very few eyes can see

the Mystery of his life—

a life like the scriptures,

figurative.

                                John Keats

                Quoted from Posthumous Keats

                Stanley Plumly

moon

soon I will see you

in a sky I usually paint

beneath my skull—

soon such a bone

will be turned to you

and the sky it is

will be the sky it reflects.

It is the domed roof

of a planetarium

I sit with,

tilted back, poles marked.

and all that lies between

are pointed out,

plotted.  Each day

it is almost always

the same:

but for a slight shift

it is uncalculated.

Sit in a boat, won’t you.

And drop anchor.

Or maybe just drift.

What feels solid

beneath the feet

is liquid glass.

Days without you

are such boats—

but I imagine too

much.  See what such

distance allows?

I hear a song

and think another lung

is breathing it

out.  Beneath you,

in this sky,

I am as alone

as I always was.  Yes,

someone else is looking

up.  A million

million someones.

They walk toward you

with their eyes.

I, sightless, take my first

step into the water.

I am no Jesus.

The boat is still,

drifting.  Still

drifting.  You are brighter

beneath the waves

than I ever thought

was possible.  I did not know

until now, how blind

I was.