The Island Around The Corner

From the island around the corner,
Where dawn is an act of willing,
The vicissitudes of midnight
Puncture the sailor’s dreams.
His unlikely dreams of landfall
Satellite-photo that coastline,
As time takes the face of icebergs,
And the snapshot-clocks are stupid,
And the vestals of morning stoke
Beach fires that burn without light
On the island around the corner.

On the island around the corner,
Where the coiled springs all lie broken
And the keys to the locks are misplaced
Beyond cobweb-ripping light,
No codebreaker holds bright vigil,
Or boasts of the blueprints to sorrow,
And the sailor who hears the waves breaking
Wakes up to find only calm sea.
No bells ring, nor are heard rising
The appoggiaturas of a dawn breeze
On the island around the corner.

On the island around the corner,
Where the cliff-walls all face westward,
And absorb the cries of sea-birds
With their backs to the threat of day,
The seed of the earthquake that threatens
In the tossings of the dreamer
Who calls up both island and sailor
Shakes no tree, nor this earth’s resolve.
The rules have been set down in sorrow,
And the treetops will brook no consoling
On the island around the corner.