Investigative Logic in a Study of Love

The field, persistent in its meticulous study

Of lantern flies, leaf hoppers, elbowed antennae

And the lightning of sperm, is the love

Of the sky made flesh.

To properly study love then,

The sky must be carefully observed

In the act of becoming a curve of yellow clover

Or the mouth of an io moth.

The study of the panicled aster and the tent

Of the shamrock spider is the invisible love

Of the field given sight. Therefore, any fondness

For the rooting of skies can first be seen

In the close examination of Indian grass,

Timothy and autumn bluestem alive in the field.

The study of the burrowing habits of the speckled

Tortoise, carried out with careful solicitude,

Is obviously an alternative investigation

Of the rituals of sky-worship, and the touching

And naming of prairie flower and brush-footed butterfly

Is either love studying itself or the field revealing,

Piece by piece, the love of the sky or the love

Of the mind recognized as itself through blossom and

wing.

The sky has already discovered the white-tailed kite

As the air-borne love of such a field study.

The inevitable conclusion is

That the thoroughly studied field will certainly shine

Forever afterwards, on its own, like love.

I tell you it will give forth light like the sky

And reflect in all directions like the mind cherishing

The studious glory of a seeded dandelion scattering

Its brilliant wind of stars before the sun.