Life Between Transmigrations II
By Shane Brant
Your finger's to my lips, silently smiling on me.
The world's enwhirled in wars between this word,
That world, the Word, our words and worlds,
And the windy whats and whens that whorl in whys.
Silence smiles on me.
I have seen the fisherkings drink in moonlight
The brilliant surface of eternal fountains,
Have kept in hand the sunshine that kissed their waters.
So in love was water with the rays and rays with water
They mixed their phantoms and the fishers drank that matrimony
And became that flaming bird that lives once it has died.
Eve told stories to the cherubim of Eden of the peacocks
In the garden that ate everything to make them laugh.
I saw the laughter of their swords that blocked her path.
There is something more than this called All:
I have set out to discover it.
I may never learn what's worth to know.
What I know, I know. Such a store would close
That stocked so little inventory.
I know, I know.
I hope to learn I hold in error the consequence of love:
That success will come to those alone
So long as they lack the company to bask in it;
But those with cherished ones will pine away
For the glory they would trade that love for.
And I hope to learn, regretfully, I left behind the better life
Where success and love intertwined at the summit of my death,
For I know that I will not be making a return.
No journey gets to heaven then gets back.
Dante died before he publicized the rose.
I expect no road of roses.
I walk the road where snakes have lost their skin;
wolves left cubs to serpents
That emerged; snakes mangled by the mother wolves;
where predators have lost their teeth.
I walk the road where angels know defeat.
Photo courtesy of Shane Brant.
Shane Brant is a Las Vegas high school teacher. His debut collection Melody in Exile will be out in 2022. His work has appeared in numerous journals including Honest Ulsterman, EcoTheo, Timber, and Rain Taxi. You can reach him on his website at ShaneBrant.com or follow him on social media: Twitter: @terriblebinth or Instagram: @shanelemagne.