Catch What You Can

The thing to do is try for that sweet skin One gets by staying deep inside a thing. The image that I have is that of fruit— The stone within the plum or some such pith As keeps the slender sphere both firm and sound. Stay with me, mountain flowers I saw And battering moth against a wind-dark rock, Stay with me till you build me all around The honey and the clove I thought to taste If lingering long enough I lived and got Your intangible wild essence in my heart. And whether that's by sight or thought Or staying deep inside an aerial shed Till imagination makes the heart-leaf vine Out of damned bald rock, I cannot guess. The game is worth the candle if there's flame.