Other Eyes (from The Songs Of The Erinnyes, Sonnets, Odes, and Elegies by Jay Noya, Brigantium Press)

I won’t venture way back inland and go up to the mountains
I’ll keep to the pines and the shore and watch the sea
I’ll listen to the hissing and crashing and the snap of the surf
I’ll listen to the moaning and whispering among the pines
I’ll stay under the shade of the pines until it shifts and moves away
I’ll wait and sleep and dream and wake and watch the sea again
I’ll bring out my other eyes and watch what can’t be seen otherwise
Ordinary eyes won’t do for this occasion ordinary eyes won’t see
What’s coming over the horizon what’s already due and imminent
I won’t stray far from the shade of these shore pines
And the beach below it with its circling and screaming gulls
I won’t venture way back inland and go up to the mountains
To follow a wayward woman and build a home
With a roomy hearth and a roomy library I won’t do it
I’ll keep to the shore and my guard duties and listen to the rising sea
I’ll watch the gathering clouds and the retreating sun
And listen to the wind for signals and watch the sky for warnings
My head aches with numbers and aches with a long list of yesterdays
I’ve got a premonition and it’s here that I’ll remain
To watch and listen and wait but I shan’t venture inland
And go way back to the black mountains in the distance
In the twilight I’ll wait for the moon and the night
I’ll watch the beach and roam from end to end guarding it
I’ll wait curled inside the glistening shell of a long night
I won’t sleep and won’t speak and I’ll plan
How to make do without additional mornings and days
How to make do without the shade of shore pines
And the sea’s winged memory and its sad music and nameless winds
There’ll be other eyes than mine to take up the watch
When I’ve gone off and vanished in a colorless sea
And when my voice isn’t sound but a drifting tangle of kelp


© J. Noya, 2006