Then, from a hollow tree,
a hoot owl mourned its cry

And as I turned to look,
I thought the moon turned, too.

Beyond the road, a skunk.
Within my room, a rose.

So I sat up, I think,
while the night spoke and spoke.

I hear the word incessantly
as a chorus

A word whose voices are composed
of all my years

Like a requiem long rehearsed
in every key

And begun the day of my birth,
inside of me

A word sung for my soul's repose
while I am here

An earthling, bent on a journey
still amorphous.