The Flute

of what use is a reed,
asleep by a lazy river,
with a hollowness
that wakes up the wind
and makes it dance?

a whirling dervish
burning with the fire
of an ancient song,
of a closeness
and separation,

two notes
singing one song,
not two,
of what it takes
to stay
in the hollowness
of a reed,

to be the longing
in an empty flute,
in a world too noisy
and self-possessed
to listen
to the song
of that reed
by the lazy river.