with a ticking of hearts taking over
the world primed like a bomb
as i stand above the shattered rock
where the tremor first came from
i know that consciousness one day will tear
like a curtain in the fog
and home will come like a tunnel end
or a missile thrown by god.

and i was dreaming
I was dreaming
yes i was dreaming
of light
and i wanted you to know
that today there is no night

a simple step through a blind man's void
that poets chipped in stone
and everything we want to know
will be laid as bare as long dead bones.
with morning broken, blackbird's eye
will seek horizon's glare -
a painful sight of all of light
as night uses up its share.

and grass has passes into the fire
where willows kiss the stream
and a million years of history
elapses with a scream.
there is no mystic milestone here
from some ancient traveller's choice.
just the endless echo
of the first few cries of a baby's voice.

2 January 1997, Ramallah, Palestinian West Bank