Marvin Bell

AROUND US
.
We need some pines to assuage the darkness
when it blankets the mind
we need a silvery stream that banks as smoothly
as a plane's wing and a worn bed of
needles to pad the rumble that fills the mind.
and a blur or two of a wild thing
that sees and is not seen. We need all these things
between appointments, after work,
and, if we keep them, then someone someday,
lying down after a walk
and supper, with the fire hole wet down,
the whole night sky set at a particular
time, without numbers or hours, will cause
a little sound of thanks--a zipper or a snap--
to close round the moment and the thought
of what ever good we did.