Winds of Change

An elegy for V.


"Ah the losses into the All, Marina,
the plunging stars!" … the fiery oscillations
of the planets and the questing heart!
The infinite becoming of the spirit,
the sublime, the vast, from love's unerring
early darts to Charon's sombre barque,
from glimmer of first, pristine rays
to dusk, from singing lyre to dust -
the impulses that feed the spirit's wanderlust
and guide the heart in transit across oceans,
over seas of grass........................

My ancestors were islanders and seafarers,
while yours traversed the continent, the steppe.
The courtyard with the incense trees and jasmine,
the life-giving spring, has served you well,
oh stranger - you were blessed. As you depart
the caravanserai for wilderness, resume
your journey on the Silk Road of the soul's
long quest; as you approach the Eastern gates
of wisdom and enlightenment, and I assay
the sea-routes to the distant, solitary poles,
we shall perhaps look up and glimpse
a bird, a star, an augury,
reminding us of our part in the cosmic,
mystical design, and you will perhaps remember
our brief sojourn in Hesperia, and realise
how void of meaning is the word, "farewell".



*The first two lines are based on a quote in
translation from Rainer Maria Rilke's "Elegie
fur Marina" (Tsvetaeva), 8 June, 1926.  Quoting
the elegy in a letter to her Czech friend, Anna
Teskova, on 10 November, 1936, Tsvetaeva observed.
"Здесь ответ - на всё."