the kingdom of daniel

hear this psalm
about the spirit of
the days when
we were boys
on the wing:

he came to me
from a distance
and we raised a kingdom
here out of
the salt of our skins

he brought with him
a fire
that lit this cold corner
and led me
to knowledge

he bowed to no
king.
he feared no man.
he slung against
my oppressors

he sang the songs
of a past generation;
he sang
stevie and
marvin too

he sang mostly
to me, his voice
a lullaby
on the blades
of meadow grasses

among which
we found ourselves
tracing each other's
steps
at dawn and dusk

and catching
on bare legs
the wet remnants
of things
unnamed

we gave berth
to no mystery
and charged
headlong into
all battles

he became what i
believed i
envisioned
and in kind
i became thus to him

and when apart
we exalted
each to all others
with the license
of fable writers

and together
all others
exalted our
confidence and
came to believe

would i be a
man of sin
to boast the
enduring love
of cousins?

to make myths
out of the
soft clay
of children who
rushed at eternity?

to make fun
of all those
elder fools
who had succumbed to that
long soulless march?

they called us
first cousins
yet we were not
cousins first
but bound brothers

thick and
inseparable
conjoined by
the familial
and ever in step

what coursed
through him
coursed through me
and made of us
two a single one

blood shared
between
is to bear the
shield of
the Spartans

and so girded
time and man
cannot
wrest the two
apart

we chased
the serpents from those
fields and felt the
hot air on
our faces

we danced
with the sprites
of the dusty roads
and welcomed the
cold waters in our bones

our kingdom
was a borderless
range kept
secure by the
might of our wills

it was a kingdom
of fields and forests
playgrounds and streets
the shores of lakes
and the banks of stormclouds

at its height of land
we considered no horizon
in its deepest
valley we
explored cathedrals

its earth and its
sky were ours
and her subjects therein
paid homage
to their two princes

youth is
a time
when the sun
is not yet
the center

and the
stars and their
heavenly companions
still fuel
illusions of boys

i dream in the
night
of the return
of the kingdom
of daniel

once again to play
to run
to sweep down
the pastures of that
rich country

to wait on
that friend
once more to raise our
kingdom back
from ashes

come, daniel, play
and run shoeless again
across the asphalt
in pursuit
of fortunes

come with me and
without care
in love with
the sound
of our footfalls

once more
let go the ripened
but instead reach
for the hard green
fruit of youth

i want for
all a kingdom
of your own
brought down
from on high

i want for all
that blond boy
- trumpeter of
the days of
my youth

i want for you
a champion
of your
own; a guardian
of myth builders

i pray
i praise
i want
i sing
i dream