after Jean Valentine <br /> <br />What will I call you <br />when you are gone? <br />How will I know your name? <br />Little star, reflection <br />on the Sea of Galilee, <br />a lantern in the wood, half-hid, <br />half-seen? <br />reflecting on what can’t be <br />touched, be known? <br />And the sheen of milk <br />across the sky, the galaxy poured out <br />like me, true sky, false dawn, <br />and a young woman’s nipple, <br />star of milk, star of a <br />nursing child’s mouth, my <br />child, my lord, whoever <br />you may be today, tonight <br />which will not end, a cup <br />passed to me, from which I may <br />or may not drink, half-empty <br />star, still asleep by now? <br />And your small body, Emmanuel, <br />how small my heart <br />to fit inside yours) <br />lie there, pearled, asleep… <br />How I want to believe. <br />(a pearl, an irritant).<br /><br />Reginald Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/god-with-us-4/
