the mind ranges far - work from April 2017


view into France from Ibañeta or Roncesvalles Pass, where Roland finally, but too late, sounded his great horn Oliphant to summon Charlemagne back to aid him in the fatal attack on Charlemagne's rear guard, of whom Roland was in command, by the Basques ...Charlemagne arrived to find his nephew Roland and the entire rear guard dead 

(all fotos taken 5 June 2016)

the mind ranges far

the mind ranges far
roves across this ocean
and that sea
and sails through void

between stars
without air’s protection
follows various episodes of existence

avoids entanglement in feelings
if truly expert at ranging
freely

‘pon envisioning an axe
‘pon reading Song of Roland

thrown across a tight fight on a high green pass
and battlefield above 8th century
France and Spain
down through ancient green tangles of Basque
who tell their own tales

‘pon envisioning an axe
‘pon reading Song of Roland

taking two men out
through leather coils
between helmet and hauberk
in imagination
solidly all anachronism

‘pon envisioning an axe
‘pon reading Song of Roland

splitting bone and cartilage
muscle vein and nerve
all the way through
two broad necks

—one throw

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