whose ancient vista is the long view
turns its wide brightness now and here:
Below, we loll outdoors, sing & make fire.

We build no henge
but after our swim, linger

by the pond. Dapples flicker
pine trunks by the water.

Buzz & hum & wing & song combine.
Light builds a monument to its passing.

Frogs content themselves in bullish chirps,
hoopskirt blossoms

on thimbleberries fall, peeper toads
hop, lazy-

Apex. The throaty world sings ripen.
Our grove slips past the sun's long kiss.

We dress.
We head home in other starlight.

Our earthly time is sweetening from this.


About this poem
"A couple of years ago I had the great honor of spending a year working and living at Amy Clampitt's house in Lenox, Mass. I wrote and worked on a small farm three days a week, hiked and ran a lot, and I found myself drawn to my role that year as a watcher, as a being in time. Beauty is complicated, but sometimes joy feels pretty simple: lying in the pine needles by Upper Goose Pond, the pleasure of swimming and then drying off again."
-Tess Taylor

About Tess Taylor
Tess Taylor is the author of "The Forage House" (Red Hen Press, 2013). Most recently, she was a 2014-2015 Visiting Professor of English at Whittier College. She lives in El Cerrito, Calif.

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The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.


(c) 2015 Tess Taylor. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate