Traveler

Striding Horned Figure (Mesopotamia, ca. 3000 B.C.)

You, hawk-

shouldered and

silent, you lead the way

between this world and another.

You slip

between fog

and water. You come and

go again, boots curled back over

your toes,

copper-tongued,

unspeaking. Teach us to

count and to lose track, to climb and

descend—

you, goat-eared

and wide-eyed, show us how 

you cross the fiery bridge, how you

steer us

and how you 

stay behind when we have 

all gone down, gone all the way down.

As published in Travel Notes from the River Styx (available from Terrapin Books and from Amazon) and in Escape into Life (scroll down to find).

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