Awake

This is how I awake 

in thrush-pierced silence
at dawn.

For one gracious instant
just before the blunt
imaginary blade
of yesterday
plunges its old story
into my heart again,
I see clearly through
a sliver of eternity
that we're all drowning.
For countless eons
our bodies have floated
on this oceanic moment.
Each perishing breath
bows to another,
yet this very bow
is deathless.

And blue skies fill my chest.
But then I forget
because I remember...
O some first moment
on the very first day,
may I remember
how to awaken,
and how to forget.