Run to see the falling star;
From the distance it flickers
And suddenly touches the earth
In an explosion of light.
Fly to catch the light,
The light so beautiful.
And find, find that it has
Spent itself, that there
Are embers where once there
Were sparks, tepidness
Where once there was heat.
Run to see the jewels flickering,
Catch, give back, and keep the light.
And suddenly - they are cheap imitations
Of beauty which never match reality.
The morning after,
The time of awakening.
Behold what was so beautiful,
By the harsh light of reality.
The daylight destroys it all -
Dimmed, shrunk, extinguished.
Never will they be as beautiful
As memories are.
A corsage from a lover,
A bottle-cap in the road.
Pray, for wisdom's sake, do not
Bring them into the light.
Only in the bitter-sweet
Drousiness of the darkness,
Only in the tenderness of night,
In the scent of loving nostalgia,
Can our memories
Survive.

exact date unknown - c. 1975 to 1979

[ note: this is the editor's synthesis of an earlier unpublished version and a version published in Flux magazine in 1979. ]

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