VERSE
Cording, Bob
BOB CORDING THE GATHERING Here, where the river pools in around rocks, its flume-fire stilled by depth, last light gathers in the sides of fish, silver. Fish gather, move with fringes of the...
...In the dark of my head, prayers gather like sparks, gleam...
...I wait, as the others...
...Night gathers unawares.gathers unawares...
...The hatch pulses along the stems of leaves pacing to unfurl...
...Fish pace, pulsing in the slow flow of light from the world...
...I pace for old meanings to grow full...
...The stream gleams wet-black...
...In the fields, trees, river, a trillion eggs spun from the flesh of innumerable mothers wait for the changes of earth through space...
...They pace for the year's first hatch...
...Here, the river paces to a pause...
...Fish gather, move with fringes of the night...
Vol. 102 • September 1975 • No. 13
