REBUILDS

The park is all 11:00 O’clock bright strokes
Dividing dark shadows, a vibrant sun piercing
This enclosed grove, relaxation between breakers
Reverse side approach to my merging with
The sea, waves sealed within me.
The ambiguity of my feelings held as air
Trapped in my chest.  Later, 4:00 p.m. sun
Stark against the cement temple, only black
Silhouettes moving with the wind in the trees
Like ghostly memory, genetic codex, against
The heavy edifice, immovable, even though
I am reminded of, the destruction of Jerusalem
No pile of stones left standing, despite the fact
That they had stood for centuries.  So I cannot
Marvel at man’s nonsense, his battering of gods
Too much peace not profitable.  I turn only
Inwards, emerging past collected books
Gleaning some measure of a totality glimpsed
To that part of me, that is eternal, forever young
Crafted by an exalted artist, rebuilding what man
Would once have put asunder.

c) Jan G. Otterstrom F.
    January 18, 2007
    Palmares Park