My Only Boy - Shearwater

My only boy, be not so blind

Open your eyelids wide.

In through your mouth, breathe soft, light…

There are no words, no hands, no eyes

To show where a door stands wide

In through your mouth, breathe soft, light…

Let your heart stand open

When silence trickles down, bright

And softly, slowly surrounds

Your little ghost town

Set all the silver lamps alight

Open the windows wide

(come to me now, in soft light)

Show every world in its separate light-

(A gull’s wing, a crow’s dark eye)

Where all the city’s foundlings lie

When your heart stands open

And offered to a crowd

Draw lines around your chosen life

And let it burn, bright —

Over all the lovely faces

(In place of the sun

In place of the moon…)