GO WITHOUT SAYING
2002 L. Fiorentino

East of the spiral dance and
West of the wink in your eye
Due south of the sound of your voice
To the left of the evening sky
Lies a storm that’s sleeping
In need of somewhere to go
Knowing if it waits too long
It will have nothing to show
They’re walking straight at me
Here with my face in the sand
What do all those sailors do at home
Without any ropes in their hands
White bedspreads and shiny strangers
Clean, pressed for time, so smooth
Sometimes leave impressions
That come so close to the truth
As you tip your knitted brow towards mine
I know you’ll not be staying
What I’ll miss most of all
Are the things that Go Without Saying

As the last ship sails into harbor I’m going to slide into the sea
The sun will slide across my rolling heart
And into your memory
And if it’s true I could be your sister
Can words mean the same to us all
Can it be that we are related to the wind And the minutes, that’s all
If you were to capture a promise
Could it live in the hold of your ship
And when you got home would you set it free
Or would you dismember it
And you mustn’t try to save me If, to you, I seem to drown
I choose to know what it feels like
To breathe while under and down
To where my heart beats its angel wings
Over the nap of the earth while praying
Sending out a search-light
For the things that Go Without Saying

The house is empty there’s no one at home
The primrose has over grown
Dust settles thick on piano keys And never escapes a tone
Salty breezes brush the windows Steamy like the breath of a child Hiding the lack of an farewell note
on a Desk where unopened mail has been piled
My private pulse will never let me down
Even if my spirit starts to sink
When the masts in the harbor cease to tell time
As if they had stopped to think
Something always has been missing
And it’s not because someone forgot
In the sea there’s a soul,
Under soup there’s a bowl
Whether you like it or not
I’ll be cruising out to the cutting edge
Where words are free and fraying
I’ve got t o find the feast Where they serve the sentences
Of the things that Go Without Saying

The best of me knows where I’m going
The rest of me will find its way
I have seen walls like snakes through the hills
And I have touched gods made of clay
Finches have landed upon my feet
Lions have licked my fingers
Rivers have danced and jumped into the sky
And mountains have soothed me like singers
And I have made friends out of thin air
Just when I thought I was through
It’s funny I know, but the further I go
They bear a strange resemblance to you
There’s a trail from the beginning
And it glows like a charge in the night In the day
I sometimes find the need
To settle and shut out the light
And in that temporary darkness under your roof
I can watch a life that’s playing
Won’t you make it go slow because I need to know
The things that
Go Without Saying