Noon

Metaphor for showdown,
No one here to trouble
Honor but mosquitoes,

The day, the northern sun,
The sliver of summer,
And the calendar year

All at or near center,
Wobbliest abstraction
On a wobbly planet,

Eliot's seduction,
The still point of turning,
Heart of stillness, the light,

Forget about it, son,
That thrush you hear singing,
That breeze roaming the trees,

Those Albertan hikers
Bright as tropical fish
Returning from the falls,

Anything you perceive
Would vanish in stillness,
The peace with the nuisance

Passing understanding
Because it is, you are,
Forever off center,

Not here, not gone, going,
There is no metaphor
For noon in the forest.