Trembling veil, my limit
whether I plumb the Marianas Trench
as waves of doubt thunder
miles above;
or brush a stand of birch
with sheathes of rain, or net
a white noddy adrift
on beds of kelp;
whether and whither the mind
wanders in dreamy disquietude,
asleep of a prairie noon
as buckboards creak,
prepared to risk the latitudes
of chance and trance
to the Querent convey
a warning word:
awake the world, the skin
is supple and resilient
susceptible to stroke
or sudden heat.
But with a glance this veil
will fall as when a flower falls
glanced by the iron edge
of a passing plow.