The Last, But Not Alone

One cup beside the lamp

Six cups asleep in dust

My father's keys still turn

The hinges know my hand

In Shamballa, alone, I keep

The books the world has lost

At ninety-eight I sit

Where all my fathers sat

My father's father stayed

His father knew the roads

(The roads) I learned the sea from maps

I never knew its sound (The sea)

Sometimes I hear him call

(My son!) As though I'm still a child (My son...)

I held your hand,

you feared the storm The sea was dark,

I watched for dawn

The road was wide,

the rain was warm

I marked a page,

it waits for me.

Your hand may shake...

The line will hold.

We did not leave...

You carried us!

No child will take these keys

No hand will learn their weight

(You held us in your mind)

(You did not let us go)

I do not fear my end

But must you die with me?

(Then give us walls of stone)

(A room beyond your sleep)

The first day on the floor

I draw the outer ring

(We hear the stone awake) The second day the flux

Runs through my shaking hands (The stone will learn our names)

The third day one last line

The circle meets itself

(We turn toward the door)

Your voices fill the stone

My hands can leave the floor

(We're here)

You have the key

(Rest, my son)

I hear you

Now I can.. (Sleep)

We hold the keys.

We keep the

door. We keep the names.

The road was wide.

You carried us. The watch remains.

We

hold the keys. We keep the door.

The road was wide.

You carried us. We keep the names.

The watch remains.

We hold the keys— The road was wide— We keep the door—

The seal will hold— You carried us— We keep the names— The

watch remains— The watch remains.

(Rest, my son)

The watch remains.