The Amalfi Grotto

         --by Joseph Langland  

Water is light.  It blooms from dipping oars

    In huge lilies with golden tongues

        Echoing in green caves,

            A lost home.

Even stalactites sing of sudden jewels

    Dropping from bright eyes.

Just for a moment, let us dispel this charm.

The sun plunged down far undersea

enters this cave, reflects,

Surprising us

Upon these emerald waters.  Filtered light

Illuminates this world.

We cup our hands among the waves of light.

    We drip a quick florescence from

        Our watery fingers.  Bells

            Ring from our arms.

The fleeting ghost of daylight everywhere

    Taps on the bone of night.

I walked on water in a field of light

    And heard the dark tides of the world

        Tell, with a bell of tongues,

            The inland sea.

I do not tell you all. But who can be

    Complete with miracles?