Soaring Song, by EDWARD ABBEY

(October, 1967--San Francisco)

Yes--even after my death

you shall not escape me.

Reincarnate, I’ll follow you

in the eyes of every hawk,

every falcon, vulture, eagle

that soars in whatever sky

you walk beneath,

all the earth over,

everywhere.

Yes--and when you die too,

and follow me into that deep

dark burning delirious blue

and become like me--

a kind of bird , a feathered thing--

why, then I’ll seek you out

ten thousand feet above the sea;

and far beyond the world’s rim

we’ll meet and clasp and couple

close to the flaming sun

and scream the joy of our love

into the blaze of death

and burn like angels

down through the stars

past all the suns

to the world’s beginning again.

From “Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey” edited by David Petersen. (St. Martin’s: $14.95.) 1994 Reprinted by permission.