MEMORY
(for Elizabeth Bishop)

A flight of sea bird noises
from an airy window sill
accompanies my words
whirl and winded in Brazil

Untangled by a lover's eye
in a mermaid dream
strangled by the bed cover
orchestrated on the fly

A letter here from Lowell
on his reflected lips
better than from hell
in his history's apocalypse

Shadowed by memory
the clock fulfilling hours
say a good word for me
by the rocks jonquil flowers.