X    WHEEL of FORTUNE  (Three Poems)

Fortune's Wheel

To capture spring's young poplars in first bud,
fearless green leaves amid a sea of brown,
to live forever beyond Fortune's wheel.

To catch the fleeing cricket in mid leap,
to snap the picture time can never fade,
to learn what she refuses to reveal.

To escape the click & turn of heavy doors
of each day of every completed year,
to live forever beyond Fortune's wheel.

To finally swing in tune, in perfect step,
to swim with the current in this endless stream,
to learn what she refuses to reveal.

To sing the rhythm coursing from the sun,
To chant the water, happy as a seal,
to live forever beyond Fortune's wheel,
to learn what she refuses to reveal.

Fortune's Interlude

My wheel none escape;
None their fortune make.

All of your house
I usher in,
come ride my wheel,
come gyre & spin,
& for your pleasure
I’ll make fair trade ­
I’ll weave you a fine yarn
with the thread I’ve made.

All beings spin
through the air, get dragged in
to my lovely blue stream
& are spun faster still:
I have lion’s claws & powerful jaws ­
if you escape I will pounce
with my merciless paws.

Fortune's Cup

i
To drink forever from Fortune's cup,
to feel the river of stars that floats
between the spokes, to feel the wheel
as the paddles lift the water up.

To drink forever from Fortune's cup
to climb forever the dark castle stairs --
at the top she stands in priestly robes,
the cup in her extended hand --
it's like groping through the awesome land
of the tunnel formed by facing mirrors,
where stairs climb to the stars forever,
& Fortune's hand is extended ever,
& ever receding with that mighty tunnel.

Fortune's wheel in sunlight swims
among her flowers by the stream --
to see birds circling overhead
& the robin land & pluck the worm
from the bottom of the lowest rung
while frogs and crickets chirp their songs,
all part of her enchanted ring.

ii

Once on such banks the fairies danced,
sang magic songs to appease the wheel,
& lit the night like fireflies –

but we have chased the fairies from their haunts,
left autumn’s pall upon the land,
& left the night pierced by the pour
of that rolling & relentless wheel.

^ back to top