ON ISLANDS OF ABUNDANT GRACE (1994)
by Michael Primont
mprimont@msn.com
An ocean comes
in couplets of small waves.
Again and again and again;
the tide.
The tide will swallow you
if you won't float.
If you won't float,
the tide will drench
and drown you.
Float and you will find
a safe place, where
islands of abundant grace
await your return.
These islands are found
on all the ancient maps.
They were known before
any nation or family
was known.
The islands' inhabitants
sing a song so ancient and so far away
that it reaches you
from the other side of time.
Any ear can hear and understand the song.
Any voice can learn the language of the song.
"Listen, and sing with me.
Sorrow is my song and
hope is my song.
They are one and the same.
We are one and the same.
We have sung for so long
that I have become a song.
I have sung for so long that
that we have lost every private memory
except for this song.
I do not exist except for singing.
We have sung for so long
that before anyone was born I was singing.
Singing, we were carried away from home.
My home is abandoned.
Long ago, my companions
buried sorrow.
Now they are ghosts.
They cannot remember sorrow,
have never heard a song.
They do not know that
hope jumped into the grave
to stay with her companion.
I am far from home.
Listen and sing and you will discern:
even in a grave, hope cannot die.
Hope has no age, no pain.
Hope is never worn down,
knows her own direction,
knows everything and everyone.
Stand on an island of abundant grace.
Listen and sing.
Far from home, you are home.
Young, you become ancient.
Ancient, you become young.
Your companions return to you singing.
Your memory becomes strong.
Remember and forgive the dead.
Sing and live."
