After a Dream of Clare and Francis of Assisi

Alone at the edge of the sea

he sets the stone in place. Always

the last stone

the stone that has fallen

the broken stone for which there is no use.

His shoulders and the hills are a community now,

when he walks

his shadow loses itself in the grass.

Comes to a crossroads and spins till his bones

fall down in a heap.

From wind and sparrow

he gets his bearings;

the horizons pass over him like clouds.

A stranger gives him his cloak, from its holes

he patches together a family.

A neighbor brings him his bowl, he knows

the ways of clay.

The sun sends down its light, so much seed

on good field and bad.

The moon floats in his eyes,

he is learning to see in the night.

The earth has taken him in like a rain,

and when he puts out his hands to the fire,

it runs under his skin like water.

This was her gift, she knew the touch of his hands.

Which is the lighter, the heavier,

the earth that gives, the earth that receives?

He has asked to be planted in the poorest of soil,

like a crop

she watches his days flower and season and fall.

This is her betrothed;

hard the bed that will have no roof

whose blankets are leaves that fall like coins

whose nights stretch like a moon

that grows full only to empty its pockets for nothing.

Who is the richer,

the poorer, the bride, the bridegroom?