Mnemosyne Poem by Peter Russell

Sea-foam, flower of prolific ocean -
Mnemosyne…

Out of the Night
A god that blows forth flowers from his mouth
Beyond the senses' knowing

Mine are the waves of endless memory
Each image in its place in lovely order
The multifoliate robe of Kosmos in the soul
Ripples and ripples with the alphabets
Of every ancient science, every sense

I stand aside to let the seasons pass

And ecstasy, that threads like pearls
Our origins and presences and ends
Is like the first wild jonquils of the spring
That shimmer in the wind and sun
Upon a lonely island no one knows
Drawing the swallow transports out of Africa

And every clod and every grain of quartz
Gleams like the infinite stars
Answering around the universe