Stardust (for Katrina)

Until I came down from the trees
I never knew the use of knees;
Until the forest primeval was gone
I never imagined a horizon!
The Sphinx was my first taste of meat,
translucent to the dawn
through its brow stars shone;
the riddle remained incomplete.

Pull the arrows from St. Sebastian
and he'll surely die.
Rest assured Neptune has rings
And more moons than meet the eye.
Lady Chatterly's gone with Lord Greystoke
To dig at Olduvai…
Watch them shine… wherever they touch
stars are born… they are you and I.

Lately I've seen Jefferson Airplanes
writing WOODSTOCK in the sky.
Still, how many know the real reason
that Peter Pan can fly?
Yes, like Tarzan, he is half-wild,
of hunger for innocence hatched.
But Peter Pan was an unwanted child,
born with no strings attached.

You see, the story never ends:
there is always a Golden Goose--
(call it the Cosmic Egg if you choose)
--let King Kong live and reproduce,
Let Hadrian have his Antinous.
Sinbad the Sailor is just another pretty face
until Oscar shows him Dorian's head--
Liz Taylor has her chance to humanize his race
James Dean rises from the dead.

There is no greater miracle or bliss--
expand with the universe: YOU EXIST!
Nothing you can kiss or hold
is a more splendid spiral than
the singularity of your soul
the stardust of your empty hand!