BEFORE OR AFTER VALHALLA
rochelle holt
i.
If I could resurrect the dead alive;
who walk wounded, living dead on this earth,
I would know the mystery of Great Spirit
that is Life ourselves, cell-Ghost, giving birth
to each incarnation where we arriveR
mindful more or less and repetitive
until we remember and assess worth
of all strange reasons we are here, rare gift
greater than crawlstroke and deeper than dive-
then I would not be the Gokstad adrift
on mortal sand, sinking through Time, a sieve,
inured to Pain or just absence of Mirth
with power to grant one final reprieve
as I watch my daddy's suffering lift
beyond ashes ot old bones and grave death
Ali—
that is s split-mind,Sstruggling to heal rift,
keeping sash so immobilized with girth
while I pray release of what was conceived.
ii .
Maybe if I call all parts of our soul
to tell him that he is loved from afar,
one father will awaken to rebirth
or like musketeers of magi see star,
leading lost to stable without the foal
where manchild dreams in mangy manger, earth;
this is goal as I wander desert-gaol
to save us all from gashing wound still hurts
in spite of knowledge we must each cross bar.
Oh, daddy, forgive and unguard poor fort,
41=^ smile to live enough to remove tar
as you climb from cavern through become whole.
I praise Peace not victory will end gray war
still keeps All prisoners bound in mud and dirt
while I pray you yearn walk on grassy knoll.