The Slim Hope of Ponce de León
.
best of all seeming impossibilities,
of all the unlikelihoods at the heart of utopias,
is the slim hope of Ponce de León
(the golden nut of Eden’s tree
to hoard and hold and keep alive,
like the fire-tenders of prehistory,
an ember no matter how small
of coals hot and red of passion,
a mind transparent as the whirr
of hummingbird wings,
firm as tenon in mortise,
expansive as a new thought balloon,
determined and fearless
as a road-crossing tortoise
at the pinnacle of noon)
—the will to keep lit a lasting blaze
of moments that were hourless
dayless monthless yearless
and clear of haze
.
by Jim Culleny
2/7/15