And That is Where It Will Begin

Yes, it could begin here in this place that is like a restaurant but isn’t quite a restaurant this place that breathes quietly yes quietly breathing the compressed air the conditioned air inhaling and exhaling in the quiet room without the staff, who will appear mid-week, without the dinner guests, who will appear at week’s end, yes it could begin here in this place that is quietly breathing and creaking and I wish it would stay this way for a while longer and, in fact, I would say yes to a few more days like this or a week of days like this. Or yes it could begin in this Time late summer the first days of September hot days cool nights the tired garden spindly herbs and stubby cucumbers and peppers ripening and the harvesting of pole beans and the melons dripping syrup down chins after dinner as the summer evening sun casts gold on hills of undulating tasseled corn. Yes it could begin here in this ponderous way. And it wouldn’t be a lie and there would be depth because the summer sun is true and the corn is true and the sweet melon is true and the restaurant that isn’t quite a restaurant is true yes it is romantic when the golden hour hits the fields and river banks in its waxing way but where else would the sun rest its rays? And it could begin here with all this painted language it is true and true and true but there is a darkness beneath it all and the darkness tires people it tires me but the great light casts the great shadow and I feel that in me yes it is in me great light and great dark and I feel it around me the great light that makes all the pretty things and the great dark that is the work inside them yes and that is where it will begin.