God knows. That passion meant
plenty, at the time, and timeless words whose intent
baffles me now. How I burned!
How did I come through? No matter. I learned
nothing, except: pain teaches nothing. Mythic birds
taste their own ashes — are something
of their sometime selves after all. All
is not lost even by our forgetting: words
testify in spite of us. Total recall
is not required. Once I said always; once
is enough, God knows, to establish relevance.