Before the Common Era
Before Epictetus, the Aztecs, Machiavelli;    
before Berkeley, Spinoza, Calvin,
Hegel and Heidegger; before the Bavarian
Illuminati; before Marie Antionette; before Schelling;

before Hayek, Derrida, and Bukowski; before the laws
of timeless nature; Kerouac. Before Nirvana analysis
and conceptual tunneling; before subtle physics;
before alternative systems; before god,

I remember we planted some seeds in a narrow
back lot, a trellis with open ties for the sprouts like bait
and lure in sod tiles. And we waited for spring like we waited
for our first child: a new world of water and marrow.

And we knelt near the terraces, brushing the earth. And the air’s soft tongue
kept us close and at our tasks, not missing things unsaid, anthems unsung.