A Dream / The Archive

I saw the night fall unto midnight

and the sun make its neverending rise

I watched a baobab grove grow, my life

never my own

I lived long enough to see each tree grow

and bend downward, slow

Full moons passed and the grass bowed, sunrise after sunrise

when they lay for dusk unto dawn

I surrender to their blades and rest in their arms

I heard all the songs ever sung

all the art ever loved

all the people becoming

and becoming undone

Seasons came and seasons gone

tribes of women and of men

born, then born again

generation after generation

ancestors whose stories passed on

I witnessed paintings of virtuosos whosewho’s works survived

only in their minds and in mine eyes

And all the sculptures that were carved

by hands more divine than mine

The stories told night after night to a weeping child

ancient hymns sung by a lover on his lyre

Messages left on family heirloom cassettes

And collections of records, each carefully selected

And a poet, some scribe, transcribing

What could not be caught by the eye

This is the dawn, the day

The dusk and the moon

Rising to meet the sun

You are the poet of the world,

And these archives are you

Rise again, amongst the morning dew