Measure for measure
This is what was made to be
a world to be measured
in coherent time
the ungathered rose
apple blossom and the smell
of a new-mown lawn
Last night the sun set
with a red glow
that infused the horizon
with hope for better days to come
the bright Spanish doubloon
that Columbus saw sinking
slowly into the Caribbean sea
off the coast of Hispaniola
We make and spend our own time
and all we make is to be measured
every step of the dance
every beat of the baton
every phrase on the page
something made that is to be measured
even love and even lips
and hair that cascades across a brow
and hands that hold
and eyes that beckon
and breaths that mingle
all made to be in some way
measured
immeasurably so
In any canvas
or in the simplest sketch
there are proportions to consider
what the dimensions will hold
and what is made with the imagination
soundscape lovescape lifescape
the fault lies only in the stars we choose
she of the rose she of the lily
she of the dream-drenched eyes
and if I dwell I am seduced
and rendered speechless
in a silence that is to be measured
deliberately delicately measured
with all the courage of a culture
that goes against the grain
that refuses to be fossilized
but soldiers on into the intimacies
of affection and made things
Love is a thing that we make
and the making of it
is the making of us
a creation that is
free and faithful and spontaneous
and delicate and forethoughtful
a multiplication of ungathered roses
And so to her loving beauty :
peerless—that is
measured to be
beyond measure
John Lyons