and when she lifted her legs it was as if
she wanted to balance the moon  on her toes to keep it from falling

but I knew all along it was the black cloud that needed to stay in place

and so in that county where I was once and now and will be before I was

where I spoke the words holy  holy holy Lord God Almighty all the earth

is full of Thy glory where the whistling swans ride the backs of the white

horses of the river where the boxcars and skiffs are full

of drunken troubadours where once I did lay awhile longer the pavane

of whippoorwills while the pall bearers are strutting in the ceremonies

of my sleep the passing bell nodding like a snake charmer all far

past way deep behind the woods down the  road where I saw that lightning bug

in  the country where my  dreams are like bark

peeled off by lightning  I was with her the girl  with black  hair

while the wolf had the moon by the throat

I said I love you in  the field of honor

and she  was like a colt

and she was water I  held in  my hands

and she was the canoe I worked through the river

ans she was the flash at two-thirty in the morning of  the suicidal knife

and she was  a fire of pine cones who ran like a deer

and she was a butterfly that lit on the float of  my  pole

and she was  the night herself

she was the cape I drew over my body

frank stanford