The Leap

Next time,

'I'll live, in a dream, in a stranger's house

Where perhaps I have died

Where the mirrors keep something mysterious

to themselves in the evening light'.

Next time,

I will leap into the fire

To find your name.

Not lament the deepening of the shadows

Nor stop to hold the ashes.

Next time,

I will beckon you to my side

Raise a candle to your face.

Softly whisper, move closer, gently now

So to see who is who.

Next time,

I will not let the silver inherit the black

Or let the blue mourn the fading of the red.

Next time,

My loving gaze will pierce the dark glass

So there be no time after time.

Next time,

I will be true

----b

~~~~

The Choice

I walked with my reason

out beside the sea,

We were together but it was

keeping a little distance from me.

Then it turned saying:is it true you heard

that your beautiful white love

is getting married early on monday?

I checked the heart that was rising

in my torn swift breast

and I said: most likely;

why should I lie about it?

How should I think that I should grab

the radiant golden star,

that I would catch it and put it

prudently in my pocket?

I did not take a cross's death

in the hard extremityof Spain

and how then should I expect

the one new prize of fate?

I followed only a way

that was small, low, mean, dry,

lukewarm,

and how then should I meet

the thunderbolt of love?

But if I had the choice again

and stood on the headland

I would leap from heaven or hell

with a whole spirit and heart.

---Sorley Maclean