Magellan Song

revised from 2015; original post 2009

when I speak to you
of the way this is
your eyes widen in surprise

(or astonishment – the right word
makes so much difference
when one tries to describe the way this is)

it seems sometimes
that there are no right words
to carry my full meaning

do you think
I would speak to you
of hearts or say forever

that I would use tired words
remotely resembling
those dry and familiar forms

if I instead had language
that could make
how I feel more clear

all I have for you is known and common
a few small words
offered too early and too often

I promise you
if I had been alive in mythic times
I would have invented language

that would have
the syllables
I need

every word would have been a nail
in the ark that saved
all the couples of the world

the covenant bow
that was revealed
after the rain had dried

would have colors
only you
would be able to see

I would have been clear enough
to have torn Babel down
all on my own

if I had the right tongue
I could reform history
with improbable, impossible words —

if I had the tongue
I need to speak my mind today
I swear I could remake the world

hold it in the corners of my mouth
then offer its fresh contours to you
in a song of Magellan –

a circumnavigator
now just barely remembered
but once his name

was the leading edge of a legend
an arc of hope
from known to unknown

if I could speak the words I need
I would conjure him
spell him into life this morning

put him to use as we sink our toes
into this cold Atlantic sand —
look at all that horizon out there –

its dark line
the promise
of unseen shores –

to reach it we will need new vocabulary
but for now this is all
I can bring myself to say:

come closer
stay close
sunrise can’t be too far away