It Is Well To Be

A poem is always in me
I rhythm with it daily
It ticks in me
It is my true time
The world otherwise being
Nothing really winning

No lapse in living
Loses it
And all grief
Which shadows me
It grows
To tops of joy in being

Nor is it less
A well for loving
Which music
Poems my body
As my lover
Is my meter
My hands and lips
A diction of desire

Thus while not
Immortal made
I sense the how and why
This breathing business
Is well to be
Glowing me with dark elation
Lighting my soul’s parade

n.d. (prob. 60’s or thereafter), rev. 5/18/94
Copyright 1994 by Maurice Leiter
Posted with permission.