PERSIST

On the lotus pond, weathered stems keep faith for us.

One leaf, heavy with memory, drifts toward earth.

The great globe shrinks to our miserable footfalls

over a buried dream.

Vast white cold freezes the gaze

but carries our courage.

Beneath a sky of mounting birds the iron chain bridge

bears its grey affection.

A single lightbeam spans the canal,

joining the near bank with the far.