Alexandria Leaving

Alexandria never left

It is we who fell back

Soul tanks brimming with

Two thousand years of light

Matchwood, a wave lifted us

into her bright embrace

Ripped from her hands

our phosphorus dipped heads

flare-fell and fall still

There is nothing we can do about that

Knowledge is fuel for wisdom

Causal bodies are designed to burn

The Buddha’s face is beautiful in flames

Our fingers must release

But as souls we can choose

One bright soaring arc

Or stoop to strategies

That abandon her honour

And preserve our own

Mummified identities

in dry strips of mind

Souls, fingers

Whatever the fate or faith

Of these appendages

There is no choice for the

Lion’s heart

Courage comes from this

And Alexandria’s laughter

The exquisite music is always playing there

Though ears are blocked

And wine poured in the dust

O Anthony

It is not love that leaves men

But men who leave love

To build monuments to her

In the dark

Or rather it is the light of love

They leave

Being unable to ever abandon

The bright core