our room sidles
the Burren in Ireland’s West
crenelated lap of white
limestone gleams open
to the night’s full moon

the rose-winged moths in
the rose-flowered thyme
flutter the mossy gash of stone
and prepare to take their place
in this quiver of glow

all this light
sizzling through a quilt
of pinpricks in the night
of the longest day

stars slip between their
distant homes and ours
magnetized by earth’s
bacchanal of light

Yes! Sing the body electric
is exactly how I feel

sleepless for hours
restless in this rousing
pulse of requited reach

let me sleep of birds
who practice their trills
and warbles as they doze

knowing the only answer
to light
is song

Ballyvaughan, County Clare June 21, 2024