one common wheel

YELLOW TOY

Snow mantles the outstretched granite hand

of Roger Williams, floating

with benevolent feeling

over Providence.  Understand

this pioneer of liberty –

a spark from Edward Coke

whose Temple accent spoke

one common wheel of dignity

the lawful root of sovereignty

beyond despotic whim

in a vibrant realm

of transparent equality.

Within the wigwam of Canonicus

wings of Cautantowwit

Whitsun tide-light

new sign from lofty Okeanos –

Manitou beyond the earth.

Life of Miantonomi

lost on Path P

Christos   locked on Golgotha

the bread cast on the salt waters

returns as octahedral

diamond   of every soul

the living ground.  These gray matters

of galaxies   our origins

in chaste velocities

of Raven-sighs

are reconciled where Time begins

      *

in mid-most mind (O Adonai)

where gyroscopic spins

of corny gold Whitmans

drift from mosaic cupolae

Ravennas of ecstatic joy.

O lift the everlasting

Gates!  The iron spring

gives way – unleashes yellow toy

across the planetary warp –

Ariadne’s shuttle flies

arranging swift surprise

in Chartres maze, her fleecy harp

sounds rustic harmony

(rose choral wreath

of unison, beneath

mild luminous clerestory).

The ancient pattern of the whole

reflects an irrepressible

adoring Psyche – able

to melt each calcified soul

& mend the fractured skeleton

all shattered out of reason

to dehumanizing treason

(haughty deflections of half-men

swept up into strange self-defeat

by heart’s amnesia)...

Help them, Columbia!

Mercy makes Providence complete.

1.10.17