Animal Life - Shearwater

Born inside the gates of a family

Hardened by a Roman machinery

Cast among the building sites

The coiling wires, the shots collected

Called out in the wake of a lottery

Held inside the family gathering

Mirrored beams and dog-like stretch

A wandering association

Murmurs in the dark confessional

And rides along the road, ephemeral

As an animal life

Rusting in the shade of the batteries

Hanging from a rope in the gallery

Pacing down the balance beam

Of half-remembered holidays

No rush of light, no sign of belonging

No joy in building, love in the finishing

Chasing down an anodyne

And half-reflected radiance

To hide below the ancient barricade

In chambers like the rooms a swallow made

For an animal life

Charging down the maw of the ocean

I want to come close, I want to come closer

I held your name inside my mouth

Through all the days out wandering

But called up from the mouth of oblivion

Cast away like dogs from the shelter

I shed the dulling armor plates

That once collected radiance

And, surging at the blood’s perimeter

The half-remembered wild interior

Of an animal life