Leslie Wolf
UNDER THE RAINBOW
The old Chinese asleep beside the pond
cradling the curl of his daughter
breathes in the night air
that slides from the blade of the willow
and imagines her small waterbuHalo in the stars.
It is violated by Saturn, and departs
its black, speckled hill.
It moves to a new cog in the sky.
The child sleeps on. The father sleeps.
Frightful tornadoes of symmetry
£lash and close in the cheekbones of Mars.
Cured in a turquoise windcradle
Uranus and Neptune
have a balmy oblivion to protect
from each other in the riveted calm.
The planets are three quarters out tonight.
A young American proposes to his first date
at the zenith of his first Ferris wheel.
Wrapped around the well
the flowering cherry hangs loose
in tan, forgiving skin.
The dark moon hides its one eye.
Venus what I do
in the name of your fleet
starry year ...
Down past the upright pine and ruined willow
two moons of Jupiter weave a broken
friendship ring, half-sisters
of a large, unlucky time.
On the bank, the Chinaman awakens
to
introduce his brother, new brother, to his son.
