No matter what door you return through—
inches falling—in pitch of night confettied,
in dawn-light: no matter: I will put you out

over and again until what matters most—
the not knowing of what I do not know—
rises in the now moonlight as the final inch

begins to crust toward shine and I speak so:
Go out, heart, into it. Do not return. Because mine
is a body caught, because submit is not your answer—

and because you, like the enchanted moon, are good.

Jane Mead's The Lord And The General Din Of The World was published by Sarabande Books in 1996. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, and Poet-in-Residence at Wake Forest University.

 Jane

 Mead