Four Poems

Tirado, José

"A Vision"

A soft wind sailed
through waving trees, sighing.
In crisp, radiant clarity
leaves danced
in flame-light movement, glittering.

And in the center of a field
a single tree, alight
with Being,
solitarily stood -
full and possessed of Life.
Each stirring leaf
a diamond twinkle of Truth.

It was there,
there in a moment of
no-moment understanding,
that I heard the Song of Being
in one tree's dancing silence,
then quietly washed my face
with thanks,
more thanks,
and salt tears.

"Some Simple Pleasures at Work"

A wind whistle through baby frames of homesites
Whose laughter is song.

The morning "roach coach" coffee rush greets
Calloused hands as scratchy music fills the air.

The bricks, the paint, the dust breeze,
Still, at twelve o'clock I sleep in the sun.

"Rain"

In the dimly lit night,
now bent and passing,
cold, gray slashes cut the sky
as all of space
is chopped up, falling to earth
in millions
Of itsy, bitsy pieces.

"The Desired End"

To flow and flow
steadily beneath me,
and glide past
in motion,
as broken strips of light decorate
the quiet surface.

This is the way of life.

This is the desire and the desired end -
always passing, always changing, always
always, always.