(Not a prayer　not a curse　nothing of that sort)
I no longer wanted to hear anything　and I could hear nothing
I was relieved　knowing I would never return here again
Truly　so much had happened

It seemed like an instant　everything had passed by
That was what I thought　but the days followed one after another
Every point　was bound to another by a line
until at last they became a plane　and a form began to emerge

(Not a prayer　not a curse　nothing of that sort)
Signs of things and allegory
Descriptive skills
The physical and the spiritual
Vanitas rendered
The fleeting dream　they show us
A life held together in the most precarious balance
someday to end　this finite life on earth

Mosaic, fresco, tempera　and then oil
The changing materials and techniques　and what lay behind them
Chronicle and passage, moving on ruin and rebirth
more casually　into the hands of each of you
carried from place to place, passed on to those who come next　a wealth of memory

(Not a prayer　not a curse　nothing of that sort)
That slugger’s home run
The stars that fell upon the top of the old castle
All of them (were) in the past tense
invisible to the eye　and yet the fact that they (were there)
does not disappear
The moment the place where it once existed is brought into the present
an image forms　rising vividly into view
the traces　never disappear

(Not a prayer　not a curse　nothing of that sort)
The time has come
The room I had kept bolted, kept shut for so long
had been empty all along　I realize
Accepting what cannot be forgiven, still carrying what can never be fully atoned for
kindling a new light within my chest
wishing to accept, to try to accept, that I may go on
I let go,
opened the heavy door

(Not a prayer　not a curse　nothing of that sort)
(and still　if I may wish, may everyone be well)

I no longer wanted to hear anything　and I could hear nothing
I was relieved　knowing I would never return here again

It’s all right　maybe　I hear it　hear it coming
I wonder why　I’ve never heard it before　yet the voice feels familiar
It’s all right even when it isn’t
Now　it’s all right to love thy neighbor

I can hear it