Antechambers

           Antechambers

My father’s residence was memories

As if a chambered nautilus turned back

To find in older shapes a lustrous ease

As snug in paradox, as neat in tack

As any yacht that sails against the wind.

He found his comfort in a smaller place

When he, an adult creature, fully finned

For swimming in the present, turned his face

Away because he sought for some more true

Desideratum than today can give.

He sought a smaller realm of purply blue

Encased in lambent pearl where he could live,

Where he could find a silk-like tent, though brief,

Where he could mesmerize or flee from grief.