Memory of V. I. Ulianov

by Louis Zukofsky

Immemorial,
And after us
Immemorial,
O white
O orbit-trembling,
Star, thru all the leaves
Of elm; -
High, proportionately vast,
Of mist and form; -
Star of all live processes
Continual it seems to us,
Like elm leaves,
lighted in your glow; -
We thrive in strange hergira
Here below,
Yet sometimes in our flight alone
We speak to you,
When nothing that was ours seems spent
And life consuming us seems permanent,
And flight of stirring beating up the night
And down and up; we do not sink with every wave.
Travels our consciousness
Deep in its egress.
Eclipsed the earth, for earth is power
And we of earth.
Eclipsed our death, for death is power
And we of death.
Single we are, tho others still may be with us
And we for others.
We have come to the sources of being,
Inviolable, throngs everlasting, rising forever,
Rush as of river courses,
Change within change of forces
Irrevocable yet safe we go,
Irrevocable you, too,
O star, we speaking to you,
The shadow of the elm tree leaves faded,
Only the trunk of the elm now dark and high
Unto your height:
Now and again you fall,
Blow dark and burn again,
And we in turn
Share now your fate
whose process is continual.





Last updated April 28, 2023