Jasper’s Flag

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

O say does the dream of the flag
hang down over the surface of the truth

The sky explodes with dissolved light
and we gather
feeling romantic towards the broken darkness

Under the aegis of independence
am I to cleave
or to cleave to you

Is our declared history
a clinging to a leaving

Are we in danger of falling in love if we look too closely
at the encaustic sky

Are these other levels
something the mind already knows