IMPROVISATION#130
TRANSFIGURATION
(in memory John Milton
1608-1674)

Each morning that flees
like an alias worn
as a spring flower
in the underground
below his knees
newly born on earth
seeks to please as dahlias
in a wondrous transfiguration
Milton from a sought hour
in its Englishman's freshest air
amid the depth of our origin
nourished by a rebirth of sleep
supplanted in the deepest currents
by the river of paradise
a wise Puritan poet abides
away from earth's first sin
of being cursed or forlorn
swayed and eventually
kicked out of the garden
by the strife of Satan's boots
now flourished in the depth
of a perpetual stain
over a delivered discipline
of his age
by a refreshment of rain
drinks into the baptism
of a hymnal refrain
by language and speech
sent by warring angels
from an omniscient power
to teach us
even now speaking
of Jesus that the Lord
will not fail us
for  in the Son of man's roots
he seeks a life-long pardon
for the individual in liberty
and to be in nature
born again.