When Seamus Went Digging (The Beloved, Side B)

When Seamus went "Digging"
And the blind man went looking for you
As you hid in the labyrinth
And he called you "Beloved"
While whispering your name in the halls of Tabriz

Your face was in friezes
Above columns you held up for me
And a lantern I lifted as I walked
The stairs where you kept your promise
That you you made to me

And I sailed through the ocean
And I whirled on the eddies
And I danced on the streams
To the ports where I bargained for opals
And all the black teas that I drank to believe

But you weren't there

And I sought you in novels
But you burrowed in my drawers
And you knit yourself in all my clothes
In the pockets like moths in my cable knit
Warm sweater sleeves

But like thieves, they stole you from me

And I wished as I wore it
The carnelian carved ring
That I used to seal letters I wrote you
And stuffed in green bottles I launched to the wind
For one thousand years

But they blew them to smithereens

And you waited in caverns that did hang with flowers
The glass of the hours
Held sand from the shells to my ears
Where you sang the verses that lifted the curses
They had placed on me

The lady with braids
Who did you keep you enthralled
In her captivity
And you didn't leave. No, you didn't leave.
Didn't you know it was Time to go?

I studied the pages
I visited sages
I added the numbers and wondered at patterns
Was it all our fault?
Or was it "the fault in our stars"?

So I became the Priestess from the cards
The Empress, the Teacher, The Seer
The Tearer, The Mother, the Bearer
The Sepher, the Cipher, deep hoarded and true
Who stared down at you, from lead-paned windows
And it pained me to see the conclusions they drew

The white h(e)art, they hunted, that broke me so briefly
The telescope, the microscope, the gyroscope, kaleidoscope
And I saw you as the twinkle in the eye
Of the Cosmos
Not a hall of mirrors but a hall of walls with doors
That opened to you

And you ride your mount to me
I was the Quest, the Grail you searched
And I saw you standing there
In front of me
And you had come Home